What I Wouldn't Sacrifice
by Bamboofoxfire Productions
Summary: After being taken in and shown compassion when no one else would, he would do anything to repay his older brother, even if it meant breaking taboo to bring back the man's younger sister and defying the Gods' will.[Sort-of retelling]
1. Prologue

**A/N: **I've been wanting to write this for FOREVER, but only just finally got to it :D This intro was really hard to write, for the record ^^;

I'd recommend listening to the track "Burkaqua Village" from the Rogue Galaxy OST for the first half of this. Kind of has the vibe I was going for with the village :3

Most of the characters in this belong to me. It's mainly an OC fic ^_^ But I hope it's a good enough one that that doesn't matter!

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><p><strong>What I Wouldn't Sacrifice<br>****A Shadow of the Colossus Fanfiction**

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><p>They had come far, across fields, through mountain passes, more fields, woods, towns, and finally, their destination was within sight. Carved stone arches greeted them openly, old and weathered, but maintained.<p>

Thick boughs overshadowed most of the path, casting it into a mottling of light, while tree trunks and thick undergrowth shielded the understory of the surrounding woods from trespassers, leaving only one possible route: the road on which they traveled.

The traveling party of three was modestly dressed, at first glance, cloaked in light brown of average quality, nothing immediately fancy. The horses, however, were a little less modest, the lead rider's mare jet black with splashes of silver that gleamed like polished jewelry. Its tack was well-crafted, and several saddle-bags and other traveling gear hung on its rump.

The other two didn't ride animals nearly as fine as the first, but they were of good breeding stock, well fed and cared for to the trained eye. Any three of them would be prime targets for bandits with an eye for value.

Another stone structure stood ahead of them, where a pair of guards kept watch at the open gate. One approached and held up a hand, ordering him to stop in the local native tongue, demanding identification.

The lead figure tugged his hood back slightly, silvery hair and eyes visible, and the guard seemed to realize, urgently ordering the other to go find their Chief.

Before more than ten minutes had passed, a man in blue robes appeared, donning a white mask that hid all but his eyes. He opened his arms in greeting, his voice curt, polite, but only tensely friendly, forcibly civil.

"Ah! Welcome, welcome. I trust you had no trouble on your journey? Seeing as you made it and, from what I can see, unharmed." He stared at them for a moment in scrutiny, as if trying to ascertain if such an observation was wholly true.

The head rider nodded, falling into the local dialect.

"Our journey went fine. There was no trouble at all."

The Chief in blue robes nodded tersely, motioning into the village. "Ah, good. Very good. Why don't you come with me, so we can get to our…discussion." He paused a moment, seeming at a loss, before adding uncertainly, "If…it is your custom, I can have someone tend to your animals for you, while we walk."

The younger man shook his head as he dismounted in one fluid, graceful motion, grasping the reigns of his horse as he began to walk.

"That won't be necessary."

The Chief paused another moment then nodded his head, leading the way stiffly.

"Right this way then."

The dirt streets of the village were occupied by curious onlookers, eyeing the cloaked strangers who walked with the Chief, some ogling the black and silver mare led by the one walking in-toe with their leader towards a larger hut at the far end of the village.

He was observing them as well.

Silvery-blue eyes traced over the form of buildings that were a mixed construction of stone, wood, and plant materials, many of them round in construction. Tanned hides were stretched out on wood frames, and somewhere off in the shade of one open building, a man was skinning and gutting a fresh deer carcass. A handful of moderately sized fowl clucked in their path, then parted and skittered off to the sides of the road around them, before going back to milling in the middle of it again. A few children laughed and chased each other around, looking like they were going to bolt into the road, unaware to the traveling group, before a fussy mother pulled them aside and scolded them to be careful, pointing out the men and horses they might have otherwise been trampled by. A woman sitting just beneath the shade of her house was be-heading and flaying a small weaved basketful of fish on a wood slab, pausing to wipe her brow with the back of her forearm and curiously glancing at the passing group of five.

Further back behind the houses, a band of horses were fenced loose together with an open gate, grazing. A figure of smaller stature walked around them and refilled a trough with fresh water from a bucket, not noticing the group for several beats, then paused as he first noticed the horses from beneath a black stand-alone hood and two-toned hair of brown and blond.

A noticeable scowl crossed his lips as one eye first lingered on the black and silver horse, then shifted to its rider, stopping what he was doing to place a hand on a condescendingly tilted hip. It was almost enough to make the man smirk. It wasn't hard to guess that the short teen was probably just _itching _to go storming up to him, demanding why in Hell he was here, if only given the opportunity.

Instead the one-eyed younger male only glared at his back as he followed the elder through the streets, until he and the one tending the horse were out of sight of each other.

"You must have had a long, tiring journey," the Chief hummed for a moment as he stood outside his building, looking them over incredulously. "Why don't you take the day to rest? We can begin negotiations afterwards. I'm sure that, after such a long ride, you would enjoy a good wash and some food, hm?"

After a brief moment of thought, the silver-haired male nodded his head slightly, satisfied with the offer. He had already planned to clean himself up and change out of his traveling clothes before holding their meeting anyway. He would need it after several days on horseback.

"Thank you," he offered with the same kind of forced civility. "I think I'll do just that."

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><p>Washing himself clean had been a great relief after traveling so many miles, soothing dull aches and getting rid of accumulated filth from their journey. A muffled yawn escaped the royal figure as he finished dressing, sitting down onto a pillow with closed eyes as another figure shuffled around him.<p>

The female servant pulled long, silver locks back delicately and started to tie back his hair, which reached all the way down his back, then started to place soft, orange feathers in amongst it until they formed a plume behind his head, and two longer ones of various fiery shades that hung to his shoulders, sparkling in the dim firelight.

Two strips of hair hung to frame either side of his face, tied by a long decorative piece that coiled around and around, until at the bottom, an ornament shaped like a dragon's head hung.

When she was done with that, she went about painting his face, creating a serpentine that started from the eyelids and coiled down to his cheek on either side. On the right side, the serpent figure began white and melted to a red hue, and on the left, black, melting into blue, with a silver line down the bridge of his nose.

The young man was used to the routine, and already knew when she was done without needing to be told, opening his eyes. The servant girl smiled happily at him, and he waved her away with a nod of approval. She bowed her head and exited, leaving him alone to eat in silence.

When he was finished, he stood and retrieved his swords – there were three, handles likewise fashioned after a white-and-red, black-and-blue, and silver dragons – secured them to his belt, and headed to the room where the council would be held.

His accompanying guard on this journey stood just outside the door, immediately moving to follow him and keep an eye out for any possible danger, even though there was unlikely to be any. Even so, it paid to be cautious.

He swept aside a reed screen that hung in the doorway of the meeting room, a few other figures sitting in wait at a short wood table, looking at him expectantly. Not a word was spoken as he crossed the room, taking up a seat on one of the empty pillows that sat around the table, kneeling.

Seeming satisfied, the blue-robed Chief, Emon, nodded his head, clearing his throat for attention.

"Well then, seeing as we are all finally here, I suppose we should begin," Emon said slowly, eyeing the other figures that were gathered carefully. He straightened himself up and leveled his gaze on the silver haired young man, drawing in a deep breath. "Why don't you begin with your terms, Emperor Sanryuu?"

The silver-haired young man nodded his head passively, speaking clearly and concisely, fixing the others with piercing eyes.

"The terms of the treaty for the Sanryuu Empire are as follows; first, the territory of Nagata, where we will expand the port, and open up a trade route. The route will travel west, where a bridge will be constructed over the Whispering Passage, through Benva. Sensato and the Red Glass mountains will also fall under our rule, and we will supply any materials needed to build it back up, including fresh crop for the fields and livestock to the people, to replenish their livelihood. We will leave the Silverbelt and Chillfern untouched, as it's always been. Whatever you plan to do with it is your business. The same goes for the Flooded Isles."

Emon wore a frown and nodded his head, idly stroking his chin in thought.

"These terms are… acceptable, though I am hesitant to allow a trade bridge across the top of the valley, so close…" he paused, audibly huffed, then waved for the Emperor to continue. "Please, continue with your terms. I will think about it, and we can discuss."

"In accordance with Sanryuu Imperial law, one thing that will need to end are human sacrifices. They have been outlawed within our lands for more than a century, and aren't something that I can make exception to."

Emon's frown deepened unhappily, sitting up again.

"These are less acceptable terms to us. You can't simply tell us that we suddenly stop what our culture dictates necessary because your people do things differently."

"The other points of the treaty are negotiable," Daijoudan stated levelly, unwavering. "But this condition is not."

"You cannot tell us to change the foundations of our religion simply over a truce negotiation. We do not choose our way of life, it is the Gods' Will. I do not agree to this," Emon stated more firmly, annoyed.

"Defending what you seem to think a right to sacrifice the life of others is justifying murder," Daijoudan stated, unwilling to budge.

"And what would you have us do?" the man next to Emon, Miga, demanded angrily, not appreciating the condition either. "As he said, we do not decide. It is what the Gods want of us, and they have allowed us to survive all this time, despite many hardships."

"You choose which Gods to follow. No one else does."

Miga and another man looked mortified, while Emon's eyes flashed with fury.

"Is this what you come here to do? Make us all into heathens who forsake our Gods simply because you declare it so?" he frothed. "This is not a negotiation of treaty on equal terms, this is a dictatorship! Who do you think you are? You think that your word outweighs that of the Gods? That you can just make anything you wish happen?" Before the young Emperor could speak, his expression unaffected, Emon stood and violently motioned for him to go. "We will not agree to this… this blasphemy you call a peace treaty. Be gone with you now. I want to see no more of you. If you are not gone by next mid-day, we will force you out."

Daijoudan barely reacted, standing and turning away, back toward the room that had temporarily been given to him. Even after he left, Emon was still seething.

"Can you believe the nerve of him? Give a man enough power, and he suddenly things he is a God, that he can tell you to do anything he declares." He had half a mind to spit in the direction he had left.

"So what now, Lord Emon?" one of the surrounding men asked. The elder hummed and turned to glance out of the window, to the receding silver-haired figure spitefully. "Without this treaty, the war continues."

"We will ask the God's for their favor, of course," Emon stated matter-of-factly. "And the Gods will demand blood. And now," he nodded his head towards the man disappearing into the dark of the night. "…so do they."

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><p>"Daijoudan!"<p>

The silver-haired man stopped in his tracks, turning his head. His bodyguard was on alert, ready to defend him if need be, but he waved them down to relax. The female figure that approached was shorter than him, with long black hair. She smiled in greeting as she stopped just shy of him, looking uncertain, before she finally flung herself at him and hugged him tightly.

He hesitated a moment, then awkwardly hugged her back with one hand, looking off somewhere else in a manner that might have been embarrassment.

"It's been so long since I've seen you!"

Daijoudan only nodded, but his silver eyes were elsewhere, scouring the shadows. If she was here, then _he _couldn't be far behind.

Sure enough, after a few seconds of searching, he spotted the short, hooded male with the one eye and two-toned hair again, leaning on a pole with arms crossed and giving the taller man a glare that would ignite him into a raging bonfire if looks could kill.

They both stared each other down for a moment, before the shorter male finally regarded him with a condescendingly hissed, "_Pretty-boy_."

"Psycho little shit," Daijoudan rebuked. The brunette's scowl twisted into an even uglier snarl, single blue eye narrowing into a slit.

"Want to say that a little closer to my face?"

"Why?" Daijoudan asked boredly. "Is it not good enough to have me looking down on your short ass from way over here?"

"Then how about I level the playing field by slicing your legs off, you conceited royal prick?" the younger boy sneered, partially drawing a blade from a polished black sheath.

"Stop it!" the girl snapped, looking between them in disapproval. Daijoudan already turned his gaze elsewhere in disregard, but the shorter male had yet to back down, the girl giving him a glare. "Faulklin, I said knock it off!"

Faulklin growled and spat towards Daijoudan's feet in a show of contempt before he finally turned his body in another direction, leaning his back against the pole and looking as though he were pouting childishly to himself.

Satisfied, though huffing to herself in a sort of maternal frustration, she turned dark eyes to the man and regarded him happily.

"What are you doing here? I heard that the fighting was ending."

Daijoudan nodded affirmatively.

"That's what I'm here working on." He didn't go on to elaborate that the meeting had gone less than well, but he intended to fix that, one way or another. He didn't know of anyone else that had more stubbornness than him, not even the one-eyed smart-mouth with the inferiority complex of a small dog. Equally stubborn, maybe, but not more so.

"That's good," the girl sighed in relief. "I'd love it if the war would finally end, and I know my older brother would too. He can go back to treating minor things instead of war injuries again." She laughed, though there was somewhat of a troubled hint to her expression. "If you haven't eaten yet, maybe you'd like to come over to our home and join us? We'd love to have you."

Faulklin noticeably scowled in their direction.

"No. Thank you, but I've already eaten, and there are things I need to do." Mostly he needed to put some thought towards how he was going to approach Amon and the others from the meeting again, and how he was going to convince them to agree to that one term. Everything else in the negotiations, he could alter, or set aside for later. Sacrifices weren't something he was going to budge on.

He turned away just as he glimpsed the girl's disappointed face, motioning for his bodyguard to follow.

"Perhaps another time, then!" the girl called after him, her shoulders sinking slightly. Faulklin scoffed and rolled his eye.

"Way to go, _pretty-boy_," he scoffed under his breath before pushing off the pole, placing his hands on his hips. "Komeko, let's go. No use standing here watching his _too-good-for-you Highness _traipse off."

She sighed and turned to follow the shorter male, though she was still hopeful.

"He's just busy, that's all. I'm sure he'd give us his time if he had it."

Faulklin only scoffed aloud again.

"We're better off without his company anyway, the asshole… we don't need his attitude around here!"

Komeko laughed softly at the irony of that statement.

"Yes, I suppose. Two stubborn attitudes would be a little much, wouldn't it?" She only smiled as Faulklin cast her a dirty look.

"I am _not_ anywhere near as insufferable as that pompous, silver-haired bastard."

"Who's a pompous, silver-haired...? Well, you know the rest."

Faulklin stopped and glanced ahead at an older male with long black hair that was tied back, watching him with kind, brown eyes.

"Who else?" the brunette-and-blond quipped, crossing his arms over his chest as he motioned over his shoulder with a flick of his head. "The _Emperor_ himself _graces_ us with his presence."

"I see," the older man hummed. "I had heard that he might be here, but I guess that confirms it, though… you should try being a little nicer, Faulklin."

"To _him_?" Faulklin sneered. "Not a chance in Hell." The man sighed.

"Well, it was worth a shot, anyway. If you're done being pissed though, I have food waiting for us. Shall we?" He offered up a warm smile.

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><p>This wasn't how their night was supposed to be, or <em>any <em>night, for that matter. It wasn't fair. More than that, it was _wrong_. This had to be some kind of sick joke.

Faulklin grit his teeth as he glared the most amount of hatred he could possibly muster, his entire body rigid and waiting to spring like a guard dog sizing up an intruder. Why _them_? Why _now_?

"This has to be a mistake," the black-haired man breathed, his eyes wide and horrified, shifting them to Komeko in disbelief.

"It's not a mistake," Emon stated, his voice filled with authority, returning the younger boy's glare with a great deal of disgust. "The Gods have chosen, Mamoru. They do not make mistakes."

Mamoru shook his head, as if trying to shake off a terrible nightmare, his gaze shifting between them and his younger sister.

"No, you can't, I- … this is too sudden. She can't be the one that they've chosen."

"She is," Emon stated again. "She has to come with us now. The Sanryuu Emperor will not agree to a proper truce. For the Gods to give us favor in turning the tides of the war, they demand blood, and they have chosen her as their sacrifice."

"Like Hell she will!" Faulklin snarled, barely managing to keep himself from throwing himself at them and beating them down himself, and that was only a matter of – very short – time.

Having run out of patience, Emon motioned to his men, who surged forward and grabbed Komeko, pulling her away from a stricken Mamoru. The man _desperately _reached out to his sister, trying to grasp her arm or just _something_. He didn't intend on fully stopping them – he didn't _think_ he was anyway – but he couldn't let her just go like that, without holding her in his arms even one more time, kissing her goodbye, sharing words between the two of them… before watching his entire world crash and shatter as he lost the most important thing he had ever lived for.

Everything suddenly moved so fast. His sister cast a helpless, pleading look back at him as two men marched her away, while others held Mamoru back. Faulklin snarled rage and finally lunged, drawing his blade. He cut one man down the length of his arm, and tried to attack Emon, to kill the Chief himself. He didn't reach that far, a soldier grabbing him and yanking him back. Faulklin snarled at him now and tried to attack, but he was disarmed, an arm twisted behind his back until he barked in pain and released the sword. That didn't appear to be enough for them as they knocked him to the ground and kicked him a few, good, hard times under the ribs, knocking the breath out of the undersized kid, before the men were suddenly gone as quickly as they came.

Mamoru was torn between what to do, whether to follow them to his sister, or to stay by Faulklin, who was still gasping and trying to regain his breath, curled into a ball around himself on the ground.

Mamoru couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. He couldn't _feel_, but at the same time, he felt everything. He felt too much, and it was twisting itself inside him like a writhing, dying serpent, until it started to break into thorns piercing every last nerve into astonishing agony.

He didn't even fully register Faulklin pushing himself up, still struggling to breathe, but adamant not to stay down.

"Damn it… all…" he wheezed, his single working eye sharp with malevolence. "I'll kill those fuckers. Every last one of them. Come on, we can still reach them, before they-"

"Faulklin, don't." Mamoru voice was impossibly soft, yet it overrode Faulklin's own snapping voice, the brunette falling silent. "This is the Gods' will."

"Fuck the gods! There's no such thing!" Faulklin screamed. "You're sister is going to die for nothing, for some stupid fairytale bullshit stories! Is that what you want? I'm not just going to sit by and-"

"Faulklin!" The boy jumped, startled by the harshness of the voice. His older brother _never_ yelled at him. Ever. It was enough to spur a sense of anxiety deep in his chest that he hadn't felt in a long time, thoroughly shaken by the tone. Tears were streaking down Mamoru's face as he leaned heavily against the wall and looking as though he was going to be physically sick, and it was like Faulklin was watching something irreplaceably fragile cracking and breaking beyond those dark brown eyes, before being swallowed up into a black hole. "…just… please… _stop_."

The brunette-blond couldn't help but tremble with a wide eye, conflicted uncertainty all but entirely consuming him. He had seen Mamoru go through many harrowing things – relief, happiness, horror, fear, longing, frustration – but he had never seen him like _this_. He had never seen the man that had been the only true support pillar in his life look so broken and hollow, and it was absolutely _terrifying_.

Mamoru turned and staggered away, but Faulklin couldn't get what he'd seen out of his mind nor the sound of the man's mournful sobbing from the other room, burned into his memory, where it would probably stay, haunting him like so many other things. This, though… this was the absolute worst of them all, and he had survived many horrifying things in his young life.

He stood up shakily and moved to stand just outside the doorway, still within the shadows.

Lingering in the darkness, he was little more than another shadow in the night. Every muscle was still as stone, the only movement being the faintest shimmer of tears in a single blue eye. He couldn't bear to move any closer, stationed just outside the doorway as each pitiful noise tore another hole through him like the edge of a sword, exemplified by the bitter knowledge of helplessness to do anything that would remedy the suffering.

It took every shred of self-control on his part not to break into open sobs with his older guardian; to scream out in frustration; to apologize for being unable to do the slightest thing to have stopped it from happening; and to blatantly damn the ones responsible for all to hear.

Standing utterly still and listening in tortured silence was all he could do to quell the shaking, and at least _somewhat_ quiet the tumultuous storm that wanted to rage outward from the deepest recesses of his being.

Even if he were of the mind to, and internally he was, he had no way with words, grasping at what he might say and coming up empty, only adding to his frustration. He tried not to dwell too much on it though, not wanting to break.

Should he approach? Go away? He wasn't sure. Human interaction wasn't exactly his strength, even if he had learned to be more open with this individual in particular, more able to express himself honestly.

Even so, uncertainty held him back, giving comfort being entirely foreign territory to the young male. He barely knew how to take comfort, much less give it.

_Fuck_, how pathetic was he?

He sighed under his breath, and stood listening for some time, until at last, he mustered up the confidence to round the corner, just enough to stand within the doorway, looking lost as he stared at the man within.

Long black hair hung in curtains on either side of his brother's face, bangs draping over a hand that covered his eyes as he sobbed openly, sitting slumped on the edge of a bed with elbow resting on his knee for support.

Faulklin hesitated again, licking his lips nervously as he debated what to do. He could probably still turn and run to find Komeko and save her from what the soldiers and that damn blue-robed bastard had in store for her… or die trying. If he succeeded, that wouldn't be so bad, would it? If it spared her from the Sacrifice, and brought happiness back to the man that had brought it to him first…

He shook his head mournfully. That wouldn't work. He _knew _it wouldn't work. He wanted – even more than that, he _needed _to try – but he knew it would be futile.

Feeling helpless and small, smaller than he'd ever really felt despite his lacking size, he finally crossed the room quietly and sat down with some hesitance, trying to figure out what to do. Mamoru always embraced him when he was distressed, so he figured… maybe that was the right thing to do now, snuggling in close and hugging the man's side tightly.

Mamoru flinched in surprise and lifted his head from his palm to look at the boy with puffy, red-rimmed eyes, Faulklin looking back, lost on what he was even doing but trying to do _something_ that might help, even just a little.

Mamoru's lips twitched in what might have been an attempt at a smile, but it fell woefully short, unable to muster the strength to do so. The man turned his body slightly and hugged Faulklin back, holding him close in secure arms, and Faulklin instinctively buried his face against his chest, reveling in that familiar closeness he'd come to depend on like air.

Not a word was spoken between them as they held each other like that, though it was harder for Faulklin to do so adequately since he was far smaller.

When the crying picked up again, the man's hold tightened around him, cradling him close. It was an embrace that the boy had come to rely upon, one that offered him the only true security he'd ever known, and yet, this time he couldn't help but feel that it was a spurious, selfish comfort at best.

He didn't think as much out of blame or spite, but how could he ever think that his existence would be enough to offer any sort of solace? The man might have become his older brother, but he was little more than a pitied stray by comparison of what the man had lost.

Nothing would be able to fill the hole that'd been left, of that he was certain, and most definitely not by someone as damaged as he was. And yet, what else could he do?

There was no cure for death. Not within the power of anyone within the village anyway, within the hands of mortal Men, though…there was one way. A way that was strictly taboo.

Then again, what did it matter? He'd never been _one of them_ anyway. They had no interest in counting him among their ranks, even if he inhabited the same village.

All but his brother, and…his brother's sister.

It wasn't as though anyone else counted him as another one of their own, or even allowed him to take part in their traditions, or as equal to them – being _the outsider_. So what would it matter to them if he went against their beliefs? Beliefs he didn't share in the slightest. Beliefs that had robbed his brother of what he valued most in the world, even more than he valued the surrogate younger brother that he held now.

_"That place…began from the resonance of intersecting points… _

_'They are memories replaced by ens and naught and etched into stone. _

_'Blood, young sprouts, sky – and the one with the ability to control beings created from light… _

_'In that world, it is said that if one should wish it, one can bring back the souls of the dead…_

'…_but to trespass upon that land is strictly forbidden."_

The youth knew what he had to do, and that it'd be no easy task, if the stories around the fire that the Elder had spoken of bore any truth to them.

He waited in complacent silence as the night wore on, and exhaustion overcame the grieving older male, pitching him into deep sleep.

Moving carefully, the brown-haired teen carefully maneuvered out of his grasp and from the house, a black bird waiting just outside perching on his shoulder lightly. The village was dark, with only the dimmest of lighting scattered about the village, providing decent cover.

The huge stone temple at the top of the village was entirely abandoned as Faulklin entered, looking about for guards or the Elder, but he saw none. The only figure was one wrapped in a large cloth at the far end, laid out across the alter, where a few torches provided light to see it.

He drew in a few apprehensive breaths as he walked silently forward and up the short flight of steps to where the body lay covered. He reached out a hand and tentatively pilled away the folds to see her face, still soft-looking and at peace, though he could be almost entirely certain she had not died that way.

He jumped as he thought he heard something and whirled around, scanning the long hall of the temple for some sort of enemy, but he saw nothing. For several beats, he didn't move, not trusting to turn his back just yet, but still nothing stirred. He supposed it had only been the crackle of one of the torches.

Turning around again, he put the folds back as they were and looked at the sword sitting parallel to her body, sheathed.

_The sacred sword_.

He had already formulated his plan and what he would have to do, and he would have to do it quickly. He couldn't risk being found here, much less found leaving. Much less to do what he planned on doing.

He reached a hand out to grasp the sword. He heard another sound. Someone grabbed him by the collar of his hood and violently wrenched him around, the lithe male choking out in surprise as he was lifted off his feet.

When he stopped, his single blue eye met silver.

"Y-you-" he started to stutter, his anger boiling over, struggling in Daijoudan's firm grasp and kicking out at the taller man. "You lowly, motherfucking, pompous, shit-stain, son of a bitch! You were supposed to be here to negotiate a truce and make peace! Because of you, she's _dead_! I should fucking kill you right now!"

"Shut up," Daijoudan spat, making the teen see red, kicking harder. If he weren't almost frothing like a rabid dog, he might have felt smug at the wince he managed to get out of the man as he hooked Daijoudan solidly under the ribs.

"Let me go!"

"Why?" Daijoudan demanded sternly, giving him a hard look. "You think I'd let your dumb ass just take the sword and go running off on your own with it?"

"None of your fucking business!" Faulklin snarled, barely of the mind to keep his voice down at all. The brown-haired young man finally tired of his struggles and fell limp, dangling and out of breath. "I'm going to bring her back…" he spat finally, huffing and glaring loathing at Daijoudan, simply _daring _him to say or do something to try to stop him. "I'm _not_ going to let it end like this. I'm going to commit the forbidden, and _bring her back_."

Daijoudan stared at him for several long seconds, and every one that passed only made Faulklin's blood pressure rise all the higher.

"Not without me, you're not," Daijoudan finally stated, catching the boy off guard. Faulklin's eye widened.

"What the Hell do you mean _'not without me'_?"

"I told you I'm not going to let your dumb ass go running off with the sword to do it alone."

Suddenly it clicked, and Faulklin wasn't sure whether to just sit there and stare in pure shock, or if he should be absolutely livid.

How dare he. How _dare _he?! After he had been the one to cause this atrocity in the first place!

"No. Fucking. Way. You've done enough!" Faulklin spat. Daijoudan's hold on his collar tightened, and it was suddenly much harder to breathe.

"Try and stop me, and I'll beat your ass so hard into the ground your teeth with grind to dust against the floor," Daijoudan promised in a low, dangerous, authoritative tone that managed to intimidate the smaller male, only adding to his fury. "Otherwise, make yourself useful, and retrieve my horse, before the entire fucking village and every soldier in a five mile radius becomes wise to our intentions."

He finally let Faulklin go, and the teen almost fell back onto his ass as he stumbled when his shoes hit the ground. He gave the larger man a murderous look, but for whatever reason, turned to obey.

He snuck carefully through the village and retrieved two horses – Daijoudan's black and silver mare, and his own almost-black-brown stallion – and carefully maneuvered them to the front gates. Daijoudan met him there immediately, carrying the corpse and blade with him.

Faulklin immediately swiped the sword away before Daijoudan could stop him, the two exchanging a deep, challenging glare, before Daijoudan mounted his own steed with Komeko's body cradled against him, nudging his horse to walk once they were settled.

They went as quietly as they could make the horses go until the village was well enough behind them that they wouldn't be heard, then kicked the two horses to take off into a wild sprint, into the deep, dark, southern woods.

Though unseen in the shadow of night, there was a harsh gleam of determination in Faulklin's single good eye.

_I'm not going to accept your death the way it is. I'll do whatever it takes to bring you back._


	2. The Consecrate Task

**What I Wouldn't Sacrifice  
><strong>**A Shadow of the Colossus Fanfiction**

* * *

><p>The two horses galloped into the mountains where a stone structure to the path stood. To the left, the rocks fell away steeply, while an impassible wall ascended to the right.<p>

Faulklin was wary of going too fast on such treacherous terrain, but time was of the essence, and they needed to get as far as he could before anyone could follow.

He only slowed for an open gap in the path that fell away into the deep abyss of the ravine below, which his mount barely cleared just behind Daijoudan's mare, to continue on.

They loosened up a bit on the urgency which the two drove the horses forward as they reached a stretch of woodlands littered in fallen leaves. The moon had already passed its zenith, the white orb barely visible through a break in the trees, but the forest was otherwise cast in ominous, disquieting shadows.

A faint mist drifted off of a pond between the trees, a few frogs croaking, but it was otherwise silent and still, as if the forest was just as dead as the burden they carried.

As the forest cleared, and dawn light began to filter in as a veil of gold behind the clouds, it started to rain, and they briefly took shelter under an outcropping of rock.

He didn't think couldn't be slowed down though… they had to keep moving. So, ignoring the drizzle falling from the sky in a steady hum, the two riders pressed onward, through sparse grass fields dotted only with a handful of trees.

At last, the brunette spied the precursor to what they'd set out to find, two identical stone structures standing vigil as the border between this land and the one he was intent upon. A space just wide enough for a horse and rider made the path to the forbidden land, forcing them to enter single-file.

Passing through, the wind blasted his face as it opened up to a somewhat wide stone path; a bridge, and far below by hundreds of feet, sprawling desert; rounded dunes of rock; grasslands far beyond. And at the end of the bridge, an impressive, rising stone spire that must have stood a mile tall.

Breathtaking.

The pair paused a moment to take it in, Faulklin's horse shifting with an impatience usually shared by the young male, while Daijoudan's stood still, but he soon snapped out of his reverie, and they continued forward.

So close to finalizing his task…and yet the hard part had not even begun.

Not by a long shot.

At the far end of the bridge, a stone door opened. Daijoudan filed in first with Komeko, and Faulklin nudged his steed to follow, sunlight gleaming in over a short flight of stairs onto a stone platform. Snaking around the inside along the wall was a long, winding pathway of stone leading all the way to the bottom of the tower.

A shallow pool of water, perfectly circular, stood at the very bottom near an open archway that led into a long, weathered chamber of finely carved rock. Sixteen humongous, intricate idols watched them, eight on each side of the room adjacent each other that gave off a spine-tingling, sickening presence which left knees weak and breath shallow. Each one seemed more horrifying than the last. Many were serpentine in nature, though some looked like they might have represented a bear or lion, and others like humanoid demons.

These couldn't possibly be the Colossi that legends spoke of, could they? The legends were innumerable and terrifying, speaking of beasts too large for the imagination, but then, stories had a way of exaggerating.

The hooves of both his and Daijoudan's animals echoed off the walls, eluding to an ominous emptiness, devoid of any life. Not a single creature stirred in the filtering of gold dust that misted across the ground, other than their own intruding selves. The caw of the bird on Faulklin's shoulder bounced off every surface more loudly than Faulklin thought it should have.

As they reached the steps of the open alter, the two dismounted stiffly, though Daijoudan did a better job of hiding it as he pulled Komeko from his mare's saddle and ascended the steps.

Faulklin grasped the sacred sword by the hilt and followed with a scowl. Patches of light beamed in from between large pillars, welcoming the living and the dead with chilling stillness.

Daijoudan laid her down on the alter and peeled back the folds of the cloth, revealing the soft contours of her round cheeks and gentle curve of her nose and brows, and long, black eyelashes. The faintest breeze stirred her hair and dress faintly.

Faulklin had to grit his teeth and struggle not to break down as a sick feeling twisted in his gut. She looked as if she was in a deep, tranquil sleep, but he knew better, and the thought only made the reality worse.

No matter if this worked or didn't, he'd make them pay. Those _bastards_ would pay for this, without a doubt. He would slaughter all of them without remorse by the time this finished playing out, no matter if it was the last thing he ever did. For now though, he had to focus on the task at hand. First he had to get her back, or at least _try_. _Then_ he could worry about revenge.

He had no idea if any of this would work or if the legends held any merit whatsoever. He wasn't a religious person. He didn't believe in gods, demons, or spirits, having always regarded such notions as superstitious dribble used to control the weak and stupid.

But _fuck_, he was willing to believe almost anything right now if it would fix what had been done.

A repugnant, queasy feeling twisted ice through his gut, and at first he mistook it as grief trying to take hold. The feeling only grew, and the horses whinnied nervously and danced behind him, as well as his crow shuffling and croaking just before it took off into the open air outside.

In an instant, both males whirled around, Faulklin grasping the hilt of the sacred sword and Daijoudan just barely flicking one of his own blades out by the guard, the two ready for any sort of enemy that might appear.

A black mist began to ebb from the ground before growing in mass and taking shape as a an unmoving wind hissed around the chamber with what might have been words he couldn't understand.

Faulklin narrowed his eye at the shadows which took on the vaguest form of Men, but their very existence was far more vile and stifling, raising the hairs on the back of his neck and filling him with a hollowing cold that almost left him breathlessly frozen where he stood.

The shadow creatures almost appeared to sniff the air as they prowled forward in a motion much akin to hopping apes, though their mannerisms were notably predatory.

The Shadows lunged towards them and Faulklin reacted by drawing the sacred sword from its scabbard. The blade shone brilliantly as he drew it, leaving a streak of light in the wake of its wide arc.

The Shadows hissed and jumped back, stopping and staring without eyes before every one of them vaporized into nothing, as if blown away by a non-existent wind. Faulklin still didn't relax, his senses trained for an ambush or another enemy intent on attacking them.

Instead, the sky rang with a portentous, augural peel of thunder that sounded startlingly like it carried the faintest murmur of many voices, a brief flash of lightning further illuminating the circle of light in the center of the chamber cast by an opening in the ceiling. The walls radiate an unearthly presence many times more potent and stifling than the shadowly beings from moments before.

A voice of many overlapping voices – male and female – seemed to resonate from every crevice and plane of existence around them; from the chamber, within the mind, the sky and earth…

"_**Hm? Thou possesses the ancient sword?" **_The voice paused as though in contemplation. _**"So Thou art mortal…"**_

"Y… you're the one they call Dormin, right?" Faulklin internally cursed the way his voice trembled involuntarily, finding it difficult to breathe properly, though why that was, he could only guess. "The one who shepherds the souls of the dead?"

"_**Thou art correct… We are the ones known as Dormin."**_

Faulklin drew in a long, deep breath to steady his nerves.

"She was sacrificed," he spat in a venomous tone, the ire in his voice echoing off the walls along with the words that carried it. He couldn't, nor did he want to, mask the hatred in his voice for those that had committed it. He had always hated the people of that village, ever since he first arrived there three years before, but it had never been so strong as it was now. "All for some stupid religious nonsense. I never believed the stories… but I need her soul back, more than anything else in this world, and this is the only way."

The various voices laughed softly in unison, like a mere murmur on the breeze, as if humoring children that didn't understand the implications of what they were asking for. Faulklin also caught Daijoudan watching him in a disapproving sort of way, but the teen only returned his look with a narrowed glare.

**_"That maiden's soul? Souls that are once lost cannot be reclaimed…is that not the law of mortals?"_** Faulklin was silent, trying to ignore the twisting dread in his gut that tried telling him how foolish, how _inane_, such a request was. After a short pause, however, the voice continued. _**"With that sword, however…it may not be impossible. That is, of course, if thou manage to accomplish what We askest."**_

"Tell me what I have to do," Faulklin demanded without hesitation, sword still held in his hand, gleaming faintly in the shadows.

_"**Behold the idols along the**__**wall," **_Dormin explained in a tone that could have been mild amusement. _**"Thou art to destroy all of them. But those idols cannot be destroyed- not by the mere hands of a mortal. **_**_In this land there exists Colossi that are the incarnations of these idols. If thou defeat those Colossi, the idols shall fall. "_**

Faulklin's single eye traced over each of the statues as Dormin gave his conditions. He too wondered why Dormin would ask them to destroy something that they physically could not, unless only that the being enjoyed toying and sewing helpless frustration into them, but Faulklin figured, and not unrightly so, that there was a way.

When the being(s) known as _Dormin_ finally stopped beating around the bush and got to the point, voices now speaking with an err of ominous forewarning, he nodded his head slightly.

"I understand, and I-"

He didn't get to continue as Daijoudan grabbed his upper arm, tight enough to hurt, and glowered at him warningly.

"You should shut your trap, before you start agreeing to risky promises you can't hope to keep."

Faulklin only glared and yanked his arm away harshly, sneering, "If you're scared, then _you_ go ahead and run home with your tail between your legs, Silvylocks. No one asked you to tag along or help anyway."

"That's not what I mean, you damn-"

"I agree to these terms!" Faulklin shouted, before Daijoudan could say anything more or interrupt again. The silver-haired man rolled his eyes with a scoff of irritation and disbelief.

**_"But heed this-" _**Dormin began again, that same augural tone of caution exemplified in its many voices. _**"The price you pay may be heavy indeed."**_

"I'm prepared for that," Faulklin muttered in a sick sort of resignation. He hadn't expected that, were the tales true, that it would be easy nor without some sort of steep toll to bring one back from the dead. Such things, he imagined, were taboo for a reason.

He wondered to himself how big these colossi might be. Certainly larger than himself, which would carry risk. He had no doubts that these foes would be nothing short of behemoths and easily fiercesome. Easily deadly.

**_"Very well…" _**Dormin spoke, the sky seeming to resonate and ring with grim approval as the presence began to fade, signaling the last of its instructions. **_"Raise thy sword by the light, and head to the place where the sword's light gathers. There, thou shalt find the Colossi thou art to defeat."_**

Faulklin finally found it easier to breathe again, but such thoughts cut short early as Daijoudan decked him over the back of the head. Not lightly so, either.

"Damn it!" Faulklin snarled, whirling on the other male and having half a mind to slice him in half with the sword in-hand. Unfortunately, experience had taught him that such a fantasy did not come to pass easily when it came to the condescending, royal prick.

"Just when I thought you couldn't get any fucking dumber," Daijoudan sneered, crossing his arms over his chest.

"And just what the Hell is that supposed to mean, you conceited bastard?"

Daijoudan rolled his eyes again.

"It means exactly what it sounded like. You have absolutely no fucking clue how to conduct yourself when it comes to pacts with otherworldly beings, do you?" Daijoudan narrowed his eyes at the runt pointedly. "Do you have even the slightest inkling of exactly what's at stake when you made that agreement?"

"Of course I do," Faulklin growled.

"Do you _really_?" Daijoudan demanded, scoffing again. "I highly fucking doubt it. If you die in this, you'll give up more than your mortal life, and there's no telling what you'll be giving up even if you succeed. Either way, you're likely to walk away losing more than you'll gain, agreeing to that beings' terms so fucking recklessly without even thinking about the possible consequences."

"It doesn't matter," Faulklin retorted matter-of-factly, whistling for Rebel and mounting the stallion's saddle. The short adolescent looked even more the dwarf than usual when compared to his horse. "It's not as if I have much of anything to lose already anyway."

Daijoudan only shook his head in exasperation as Faulklin flicked the reigns, riding outside and across the fields.

"Fucking suicidal idiot is determined to damn himself no matter what," the Emperor muttered under his breath, walking to the side of his mare, Ayametsuki, and mounting to follow.


	3. The Minotaur

**What I Wouldn't Sacrifice  
>A Shadow of the Colossus Fanfiction<strong>

* * *

><p>The air in these forbidden grounds were clean and clear. Untainted by the smells of war and mankind's advancements, but tinged with the scent of things old and covered in moss. By the time they reached the cliff face where the sword's light had directed them as instructed by the ones known as Dormin, the clear, sunlit air had been cast over in shadow by the rising stone and the air slightly more dusty, creating a thin veil of brown, but it still smelled only of raw earth.<p>

A low rumble reverberated from the outcropping of stone above. Faulklin glanced upward , listening intently like a dog on the hunt that had just heard its prey ahead. Rebel's ears angled uncomfortable and it danced to the side with a snort. His crow circled above and landed on a fallen pillar on the path above, cawing. Daijoudan's eyes scoured the ledges above warily, before shifting to Faulklin, but the kid still wasn't wavering at all. The stubborn fool was adamant to continue, even lacking the knowledge of exactly what he might be up against.

Looking over the walls of stone, it was easy to tell that the cliffs were at least partially man-made, or at least modified by such. There were unnaturally straight, uniform indents that made spiraling square patterns and boxes, long weathered by time, but still visible. They seamlessly melted into natural stone, probably once carved in much the same way, but worn away until the patterns were no longer recognizable. Thick lichen and vines clung to the cliff sides, grabbing every available crevice they could locate to take root.

Of all the things both were certain of, it was that there were no easy pathways or stairs up. They would have to find their own way, and climb.

Without a word, Faulklin swung down from the saddle of his horse and made his way to the wall where the plants covered, gripping them and hauling himself up them. The little bastard made it look _easy. _Far easier than Daijoudan knew he could pull off, though to be fair, Faulklin was far smaller and lighter. He recalled something about that; rumors, of the now all but extinct Kråke clan and their ability to scale even the most treacherous mountains like no one else could, and if his memory still held, Faulklin was the sole survivor of that clan. The man wasn't one to always believe in rumors, but it seemed their foul personalities were more than myth too, if the brunette was any model to go by.

While Faulklin climbed, Daijoudan stripped off some of his outer wear; his long cloak, which he folded into Ayametsuki's saddle bag, his robes, took out the decorative pieces in his hair, and re-secured his three swords to his side. Now all that he had on were the bare essentials, a black sleeveless shirt, pants, and shoes. Anything more would get in the way.

The silver-haired male approached the wall now to find Faulklin had already reached the first ledge, not even slightly winded, and balanced precariously on the balls of his feet at the edge. There was a smug look on his face as Daijoudan had a bit more trouble pulling himself up one arduous bit at a time.

"What's the matter? Cliff-climbing not one of the skills that they taught his _royal assness_?"

"It won't be a skill you're proficient at either once I reach you and cut off those limbs of yours along with that smart mouth, and at your height, you can't afford to lose that many inches."

"Oh, I'm real scared," Faulklin snarked, perfectly content where he was safely above the other. "Here's an idea. Instead of that, I can just kick you back down to the bottom. Indent that pretty, girlish face of yours. It'll probably be an improvement." He looked as though he was legitimately contemplating it. Which, he was, for no greater purpose than the sick satisfaction of getting a free cheap shot. It wasn't every day he had the Emperor of the Sanryuu empire's head at perfect kicking height, and even if it was the last thing he ever did, it'd feel _so_ good.

For one reason or another, he decided not to, instead turning his attention to finding his way up the rest of the path. A small gap was easily leapt over, before he had to scale a shorter ledge, and clear another leap over a break in the path. Waiting on a sapling that had hooked it's roots to a fallen pillar, Khu croaked and batted his wings slightly as Faulklin approached, fluttering up to the top of the cliff only a short ways higher. He crawled through the space under the fallen pillar, since it was too high for him to climb over, and ascended the rest of the way. The last part of the climb was the hardest, but he didn't pause, instead heading further in to the small, lifted valley.

Khu croaked at him and swaggered a few steps along the path before turning and flying off the other direction, the ground rumbling like a small earthquake had begun to tremor the earth. The smell of fresh tilled earth filled his nostrils as the ground shook violently beneath him. Faulklin drew his sword quietly and watched, eye widening slightly and pulse beginning to pick up, as a massive hoof flew overhead, dropping debris as it went. What he would call a small mountain lumbered past from behind a wall of rock, kicking up a cloud of dust with every earth-shattering step, and leaving stone fractured beneath its feet.

_This_ must be the Colossus that Dormin had spoken of.

It resembled a minotaur of sorts. Short, stubbed horns atop its head. Fur traveled down from its head to its chest, ending at a stone structure just below where the ribs should be. On its back were blackened platforms, two below hefty shoulders, and one in the center of its lower back. Below that was strong legs that seemed to have smashed through some unwary temple and become stuck in its pillars. The giant carried a large club lined in deadly, steel pikes and its wrists were shackled with braces of stone. From an unmoving mask of stone that made up its face, two blue lights that could only be assumed were eyes shone brilliantly to cut through the shadows glaringly. A squall of birds noisily circled overhead in a storm as the Colossus lumbered about, landing here and there, only to be shrugged off by the faintest of motions.

The boy ran forward and ducked just behind a tall rock for cover, glancing out at the towering monstrosity as it quaked the earth with every foot fall. The trees nearby were rattled by their roots, threatening to fall under the force of the vibration. Each step jarred his teeth; his bones; his body. Every one rumbled all the way down to his marrow like a drum.

Every second he watched the thing lumber away from them, he was calculating, sizing it up and taking note of the stony structures that protruded from its massive body, and the thick, shaggy fur that lined part of its form bouncing with each step.

He had known that whatever beasts Dormin had tasked him with slaying, they would not be easy to fell, but this was putting things in a far, _far _more daunting perspective than it had first sounded. Surely none of his blows would even _register_ on such a goliath.

"Still think you can do it?" Faulklin nearly jumped. In his focus and having his attention on the Colossus, he had almost entirely forgotten about Daijoudan, let alone that the asshole might be sneaking up on him.

"Of course," Faulklin muttered under his breath.

"You sure about that? Shaking like a damn leaf in the breeze?"

"It's not me. The ground is just shaking too damn much."

Daijoudan scoffed disbelief, before giving him a serious, sidelong look. "Once you start, you probably won't get the opportunity to back out. Now's your only chance to turn tail without any consequence."

"Not a fat chance in Hell! If you're so scared, then go find someone else to be your shining knight and coddle you, _princess. _No one asked you to be here."

"That's not what I was saying you fucking sociopathic midget!" Daijoudan bristled.

He wasn't about to voice the same fear, but for _fuck's sake_, how was he supposed to kill something so imposing that even the larger one between the two males was barely a mouse under its hoof by comparison?

His eyes trailed up its muscled shoulders and the platforms on its back. Just beneath them was a thick matting of fur, even thicker than the lichen and vines he had used to climb up the cliff wall. If those had been strong enough to hold his slight weight, then it was guaranteed the beast's fur would be able to hold him.

If he managed to climb up all the way before getting himself killed, then maybe, if he lodged his sword through the top of its skull and pierced its brain...

Without even humoring Daijoudan with a response, Faulklin hopped over the rock and dashed, his single eye watching its retreating form intensely. If he was quick and moved just right, maybe he could even find a way to climb up it before it had even noticed him. By the time Faulklin got even _close _to the lumbering giant, he was feeling out-of-breath, having to work hard to sprint the distance towards the thing, despite that he was relatively quick. The distance that took him many hard bounds to cross was an effortless step on the part of the Colossus, making it that much harder to get close.

Even so, he couldn't just stop. Not until this thing was good and dead…or until he was. There was still no guarantee he was going to survive this encounter, never mind one with the other fifteen of these beasts.

Tiring of giving chase, he drew his bow from his back, knocking an arrow, and let it fly into the minotaur's ankle where there was fur. With any luck, it would still have vulnerabilities, and perhaps he could render it slower since he highly doubted it would be enough to immobilize such a gargantuan being. Instead, all it did was stick with an anti-climactic, barely audible twang.

It didn't even _feel_ it.

The Colossus stopped in its tracks. Maybe he spoke too soon. It started to turn, slowly, and the blue lights on its head turned an angry shade of red.

Faulklin cursed under his breath and sprinted, circling in the same direction it turned as he drew closer to stay out of its line of sight. One massive hoof lifted above him as it swiveled, and he vaulted forward, summersaulting across the ground until he was effectively behind it. Its heavy step kicked up shattered rock, small shards pelting him, but he ignored their sting. He took a second to suck in a breath of dust-laden air before he scrambled to his feet again, and ran for its furred ankle.

The shaking earth of its steps almost made him stumble as he grew close. Not waiting for it to either crush or notice him(and _then _crush him), he leapt up and grabbed the thick matting of fur on the back of one leg, climbing up. In more annoyance than anything, the minotaur tried to shake him off its leg with a few flicking shakes.

A sickly jade-green glow appeared where the crevice of what appeared to be a black crack formed, the blade at his side pulsing light in its sheath, as if beckoning to be satisfied with the blood of the beast. Almost entirely winging it at this point and having nary the slightest idea what he was supposed to be doing, he unsheathed the sword, hefted the blade upward with the point angled significantly, and drove it down into the small fissure for all his worth.

An ear-splitting bellow of pain that rung through him like the strike of a gong. An inky blackness lightly sprayed from the wound. The leg buckled, and the titanic creature pitched forward. Its stony knee hit the ground with shattering force that sent bone-deep vibrations through the teen's body, rattling his teeth. It took him a moment to recover, but even as he was trying to do so, the creature started to move again.

He himself leapt up and grabbed a fistful of hair along its thigh, the surface of its leg disappearing from underneath his feet as he was hefted a few yards above the ground.

He clamored for a foothold as he dangled, his heart hammering hard, and his mind barely believing what he was doing, even as he did it. He finally managed to find some purchase and heaved himself up one arduous fistful of thick shag at a time, each movement of the behemoth making him momentarily lose his footing as he tried to climb, until finally reaching the lowest platform at the lower base of its back, collapsing flat onto it for a moment to regain his strength. Even then, his single eye searched over its form, trying to get a sense of what points on its body to attack to fell it, but nothing immediately grabbed his attention.

The immense beast shivered and shook, trying to knock its resting assaulter to the ground to be crushed mercilessly. Faulklin flattened himself against the cool, stone surface of the platform as the Colossus shook itself to try and get rid of him, sliding one way and another a few inches, but not enough to toss him. It backed into the cliff wall, scraping against rock walls and trying to crush the unwanted hitch-hiker against it.

He heard a shrill whistle, one that he recognized as human-made, and guessed that _pretty-boy _must be getting involved now, in whatever useless way he was probably trying to contribute.

The Colossus turned and started to walk again. Lying still, Faulklin hoped it would have forgotten him entirely at this point.

_Well at least he's useful as bait._

"Hurry it up, you jackass flea!"

Getting to his feet and rolling with the movement of the giant, so as not to be thrown off by its sheer momentum, he leapt up and fisted another clump of fur, starting to climb. His arms trembled as he crawled up its back, adrenaline making him shake and the blood roar in his ears so that he barely heard the other male yelling at him to hurry up and finish it.

Faulklin wanted to shout back, _'get your own ass up here if you think it's so easy!'_, but he held his tongue, not wanting the Colosus to remember him. Besides, he needed to focus.

_Focus._

He managed to reach the next platform, and his eye was drawn by the faint appearance of a glow on one of its arms, just below the shoulder. He crawled closer, the glow growing more pronounced, and he just now noticed that it wasn't just a spot of light, but a specific pattern. His sword glowed more intensely as he neared as well, even more than it had at the crack in the Colossus' leg.

After composing himself for a moment, the teen leapt forward and grasped a fistful of fur, dangling in the air by one arm for a moment, scrambling to get a better grip. The Colossus that had been newly intent on Daijoudan paused and shook its arm in annoyance, the glyph now shining with an intensity that was almost blinding at such close range.

Faulklin managed to get a good hold with three of his limbs, arching upward with his blade pointed purposefully, and sunk the sharp edge in deep, holding on for dear life as the monster howled in pain and tried to thrash its attacker off. Faulklin held on with an immense amount of strain, his arms and the tight coil of fingers woven deeply into the thick hairs protesting, while at the same time every instinct was screaming for him to hold on just a second more, every second that passed.

He was hardly relieved when the thrashing stopped, the glow not having dimmed the slightest. Even so, it had caused the monster pain where other attempts had barely done anything, so he figured he had to be onto _something_.

It jolted, as if something hit it, and turned its attention at something else, swinging its mace into a cliff wall and causing a small cascade of falling rocks to pile below. Faulklin was only just imagining a red splatter of what would be left of the Emperor after the beast was probably done pounding him, but as it turned out, it missed. Faulklin certainly as Hell wasn't relieved, but he wasn't sure whether or not he should be disappointed.

Sucking in several breaths as the creature started to move, once again distracted by Daijoudan, he yanked the blade outward. More blackness that he could only assume to be some kind of blood sprayed from the wound in excess, pelting his face and clothes, before evaporating like mist. The Colossus bellowed and twitched its arm in pained annoyance.

It raised its club again to take out its anguished frustration on the other young man on the ground, and take off half the cliff wall with him, but its aim flew off course just overhead instead as Faulklin pierced deeply into its arm again.

It twisted; writhing; flailing its upper limbs as if trying to punch or club something in front of it, rather than dangling from the back of its arm.

Faulklin clenched his jaw, not sure how much longer he could keep a hold of the thing. He dislodged the blade, and then for a third time, sheathed it deep into the behemoth's arm, up to the hilt. Another thunderous roar echoed around the cliffs and the glyph suddenly disappeared.

When he pulled the blade free, he lost some of his grip as it flailed more intensely, tumbling down its arm towards the ground. He twisted around, struggling for a hold on _something _to break his fall, managing to snag a ledge off one of the stone shackles on its wrist. His grip failed again as it flung its arm forward, sending him the last few feet to the ground and skidding across the dust several yards, a his emphasizing each roll until he finally stopped.

Dust choked the air where he'd landed, and it took several moments for Faulklin to manage a single breath, winded by his harsh tumble across the rocky soil, which was littered in sharp fragments kicked up by the giant.

The Colossus groaned, raising its mace to smash the small brunette. One nuisance to be obliterated from its presence, the other would soon follow.

He wanted to move, telling himself that he _needed _to, but his body didn't want to respond as quickly as it should've. Instead, he watched as the behemoth raised its club, intent on squashing him like a mosquito that had buzzed a few too many times in someone's ear. Maybe he shouldn't even try to keep battling…he was already exhausted just from trying to fight the damn thing, like a mouse trying to kill an elephant. What made him think he could actually do it? He could probably run. Climb back down the cliffs, get his horse, and go home.

Or he could just let it smash him into an unrecognizable pulp of bloody bits. At least then he wouldn't have to face his brother with either his cowardice or his failure. Hell, he probably wouldn't even want to see the boy, whose worth was far less than that of the man's baby sister. He could never hold anywhere near as much value to him as she had, a fact that he had bitterly half-accepted some time ago already.

Daijoudan appeared above him, grabbing Faulklin tightly by the upper arm, and pulled hard, throwing them both out of the path of the Colossus' swing and onto the hard stone several feet away. Even though it had missed, Faulklin could still feel the full weight of that blow reverberate through his entire being.

"For someone hailing from such an efficiently vicious and well-known clan, you sure do leave things half-assed," Daijoudan spat, scrambling to his feet and whirling.

"Don't patronize me," he snapped back irritably, staring up at the thing in calculation as he got up a little more slowly, even though some back part of his mind was saying to simply give up and let it step on him. He'd be lucky to survive this encounter, but there were also the fifteen other Colossi to consider afterwards.

Even so, there was a certain spark of determination, a stubbornness that refused to let this be the end or let him simply roll over and die, despite his quickly waning odds. Any other time he might've already said "_to Hell with it"_ and done just that, but he would do pretty much anything at this point for the one person in the world that had actually given him something to look forward to.

Even if it cost him his life, he'd do it. There was no way in all planes of Hell that he wouldn't.

With that in mind, he dashed forward, aiming to get behind the thing. He was exhausted, but he was already thinking up a way to make up the difference and beat that thing before it could be the end of him. Daijoudan immediately tried to distract it again for him, cracking it squarely in the head with a well-thrown stone bigger than the man's own fist, with little affect other than to draw its attention.

But whatever. It didn't matter to him if the guy wanted to get himself killed.

He ran around the beasts legs, coming behind it. Having already sheathed his sword, he drew his bow, loosing an arrow into the beast's thigh, and then another. The monster howled with irritation more than pain, and started to turn, but Faulklin was already prepared for that, darting behind it, never once letting it spot him. He loosed a few more into its thigh and the side of its rear, all of them close together and in a slightly uniform row up it.

Stowing his bow back over his torso, he rushed forward, still dodging out of sight as it turned to face the miniscule pest. Leaping up, he grabbed onto the fur of its ankle, scaling up, and using the arrows as a foothold to make it a slightly easier climb. One or two snapped underfoot, but for the most part, it worked as he had hoped to support his weight for the few seconds he needed to scale up the platform.

It quickly forgot about him again, and Faulklin guessed Daijoudan was responsible for that.

Keeping focus on his own task first and foremost, he climbed up the rest of the way onto the mass of its broad shoulders, needing a second to regain his breath.

He had known already that the Colossus was nothing short of a small mountain, but being at the top of it made him more fully appreciate just _how _big the thing was.

And his dumb ass was actually daring to fight the damn thing.

He re-drew the sword from his belt, noting it starting to shine more strongly as he crawled towards its head, and another glyph began to glow into existence the closer he got. Before he'd fully reached it, he stood up and held the hilt with both hands, and ran the rest of the way. He stumbled slightly as it continued its rolling gait, but caught himself from falling, not with his hands this time but by driving the blade down into the center of its skull with a hard, sickening _CRACK_.

A caterwaul followed and the minotaur tossed its head violently, shaking its entire form to rid itself of the boy and blade, both of which held fast. It persisted, trying to throw him back, then forward, then one side to another. Faulklin's arms strained with fatigue at this point as the beast thrashed, but it just _wouldn't fucking go down_.

He grit his teeth, pulling the blade out, and immediately plunged it down again, hearing another echoing, bestial roar as it tried to throw him into the atmosphere with another toss of its head. He held on tight to the blade. Stubbornness and fading adrenaline were the only things still maintaining his grip on the handle at this point. He shifted the blade; jerking it, twisting it, trying to kill the damn thing and just be done with it, entirely fed up with fighting it at this point as a mist of black blood sprayed one side of his face.

_Die, damn it! Fall! Fucking die already!_

He gave the blade another harsh twist, another nauseating _crack_ resounding from the wound, and the beast gave a violent, arduous spasm, pitching forward.

Its knees hitting the stone harshly rattled the very foundations of the cliff, then the full bulk of its chest crashed into the ground, pulling Faulklin through the air behind it like a flag as he kept a death-grip on the swords pommel so as not to plummet underneath the felled giant as it collapsed into stone.

He could still hear bits of small rubble clattering on the ground and cracks forming in the stone. The squall of startled birds continued to rage overhead, but it was fading somewhat.

He stayed where he was at first, his fingers locked around the blade and not yet willing to let go, his small frame rattling with adrenaline and exhaustion. Fuck, he was so tired…

He finally dredged up the strength to pull the sword free and stumbled back a few paces, still on his feet, but feeling as if only just _barely_ so. A small, manic sort of chuckle escaped through his panting breaths and he hung his head slightly, shaking it.

Gods. How was he going to be able to do this fifteen more times…?

There was a scoff.

"You actually managed to kill the damn thing." Was that Daijoudan trying to be impressed, or condescending? He couldn't tell. _Everything_ about the pompous ass came across as condescending.

"Jealous?"

"Hardly."

An almost deafening silence had blanketed the surrounding area by comparison of how it had sounded while fighting the fallen goliath, and an unsettling feeling washed over him as he watched black shadows engulf the mass of the dead Colossus like a funerary cloak, while a tempest of black tendrils slithered from its form and into the sky.

He watched their strangely fascinating forms twist through the sky like angry, searching bees, and only had enough time to curse under his breath as they shot towards him now as though finding their target before plunging into his gut. His mouth gaped in what might've been a scream of agony, but only a strangled, choked noise escaped as the tendrils vanished into him entirely. His single blue eye rolled back into his head and he swooned. Every sense went black, except for a light ahead, as though the exit to a tunnel, and he heard a sighing whisper of a vaguely familiar, feminine voice too soft and distant to understand.


	4. The Bull by the Sea

**What I Wouldn't Sacrifice  
>A Shadow of the Colossus Fanfiction<strong>

* * *

><p>It was to the feel of a sharp beak pecking the side of his head that first woke Faulklin, then the smell of dust and old stone wafted through his nose.<p>

Soon after, feeling returned to his body, but _fuck_, did he wish it hadn't. Every muscle, tendon, and joint ached, dully throbbing in protest as he started to drag himself up from the ground. A snort of air blasted into his ear and he absently reached up to touch a bulky, furred head, grasping at the rough fabric of a halter.

As if to aid him in rising, Rebel lifted his head after he grabbed onto the halter, hoisting him up a little more quickly than he was already doing himself. Khu squawked in surprise and hopped a few paces away from where he'd been curiously pecking at the unconscious teen, watching the boy and horse out of one upturned eye. Faulklin glanced up and around, only now realizing where they were as he spied the alter where Komeko's body lay, and Daijoudan sitting on the steps not far off, looking at him disinterestedly.

How had they gotten back here…? And how long had they been-

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard an odd, ringing noise, cracks of light forming over the surface of the nearest idol. The stone itself shone with a blinding intensity, until it was nothing but a ball of light, and then imploded onto itself, crumbling into a pile of dust.

The vaguely familiar rumble of Dormin's voice, that looming, omnipotent presence invisibly descending upon the temple, boomed down from the heavens.

_**"Thy next foe is…" **_It paused, as if for dramatic effect. _**"In the seaside cave…it moves slowly. Raise thy courage to defeat it."**_

Faulklin was silent, and then cast a questioning look towards Daijoudan, who rolled his eyes.

"You passed out after defeating the Colossus." There was an impossible to read look in his silver eyes. Something he couldn't identify. It wasn't worry, he knew that much, but something else. Something grim. Whatever it was though, he hardly cared. "After you killed it, something black came out, and disappeared inside _you_. For a moment, I thought whatever it was killed you too, but as it turns out, your dumb ass was still breathing."

Faulklin paused a moment to think back, and he _did_ recall something, distantly, and placed a hand over his torso. Strange, shadow-like tendrils that had appeared and came at him, but not much after that, except the feeling of something... _entering_. He wasn't quite sure how to put it. It wasn't like a physical sort of feeling of something piercing flesh, but something else he couldn't quite explain. All he knew was it had felt like something that wasn't there before had seated itself _inside_ him, but it was so small and weak, he couldn't sense it anymore.

Anyway, it didn't matter.

He turned and mounted Rebel's saddle, Daijoudan's eyes still on him.

"Not even going to say anything?"

"What is there to say?"

"You're going after the next one?"

"What the Hell do _you_ think, smart one?" Faulklin retorted, glaring. "Of course I'm fucking going after the next one. I told you what I intend to do."

"And you think you're in any condition to do it?"

"Yes."

"More like _no_." How could the idiot think he was actually fit to take on a second one so soon? The last one had been killed not even a full hour ago, yet he wanted to go ahead and hunt down another, without even giving himself the time to properly rest first. Being involuntarily knocked out for all of what might have been fifteen minutes didn't count.

"No one asked for your opinion."

"I'm an Emperor. I don't _ask_ for anything. Now sit your ass down and take a break."

"Go govern someone who wants it. I'm not one of your kiss-ass subjects and there's nothing in this world that obligates me to follow _your_ orders," Faulklin shot back bitingly, nudging Rebel in the ribs and riding outside.

He couldn't _just_ _take a break_. Every moment he wasted was one more moment that the Elder and his elites might be drawing closer, probably ready to cut him down for committing a taboo once they reached here. He was exhausted, hurting, hungry, and a vast myriad of other things, but he didn't have the luxury of time to be any of them. He needed to get this done as soon as possible and worry about resting later. The Colossus weren't going anywhere, but that didn't mean their time wasn't finite.

He had already faced one Colossus and not only _survived_ but killed it. The first time, he had basically just bumbled his way through it, having not the slightest clue what he was doing. This time he had a better idea, so he would be more prepared.

He raised his sword to the light, but didn't immediately see it point in any direction. Small, faint beams shone off in every direction, so he turned and angled it, until they formed a point all heading to the same end. Daijoudan came behind him on his mount, but if he had any intention of stopping the teen, Faulklin had no intention of letting him. He commanded Rebel into a run, and sped off towards the next one he would have to fight.

He circled around the base of Dormin's shrine, northbound. Ahead were a trio of stone columns that had once held up two archways, long crumbled by time, still showing signs of what they once were by parts that branched out near the top. Between two of the columns straight ahead led to a long, naturally-weathered bridge of stone, going north. A second, alternate bridge near it between the other two pillars headed east. Faulklin took the one straight ahead.

Beneath stretched an expanse of water tinged with the smell of salt, the sound of water foaming and growling against the cliffs of the gorge, and across a broad beach of low, white sand cast in darkness where the sun didn't fully reach. Across the open expanse of the drop, on the other side of the bridge above, stretched desert sands and grass, and hills of stone broken only by the entrance to a ravine.

A steady slope ahead connecting to the other end of the bridge sloped steadily down toward the beach, and beneath that sloping path, Faulklin spied what appeared might be a cave, with large stone blocks sitting at the entrance, as if it may have caved in. He guessed that that was where the second Colossus probably resided, going by Dormin's earlier words, and sure enough, the light of the sword glinted straight for it like an arrow.

As he reached the end of the bridge, which forked further ahead or downward at the slope, a rumble made the horses falter and whicker nervously, dancing in a circle uncertainly at the fork.

_At least I know we're close,_ the youth thought to himself, nudging Rebel further. With only another moment of hesitation, the horse followed his command and galloped down the sloped path that wound about the shadow of the cliff, more weathered carvings along the wall to his left, with the beach and the drop of the cliff to his right. Some of the legs of the great bridge they had crossed to reach Dormin's shrine for the first time found their foundation here, solidly planted in the soil and water, their bases large enough to have matched the minotaur in sheer size.

The path let out onto the expanse of pale sand, but there were no further noises to suggest the presence of a Colossus yet. Only the gentle lapping of waves on the shore. That didn't mean either man had dropped his guard, however, more on alert than ever in their ride as they neared the collapsed cave entrance.

They rode around the far side of the beach, away from the entrance, and pulled the horses to a halt from a distance, watching and trying to discern what to do. Was it going to come out to fight them, or would they have to go inside to it? Licking his lips apprehensively, Faulklin waited. And waited.

Nothing was happening.

He nudged Rebel in the ribs with his heel, riding closer, all senses trained, ready to react to whatever might come his way. Once he had almost reached it, the ground rumbled, and a deafening crack of breaking stone stung his ears as the unstable wall of collapsed stone burst apart. Faulklin cursed foully and kicked his horse into action, the panicked stallion bolting without any further encouragement, just before a large chunk landed where they had been a second ago and would have otherwise been crushed.

A thunderous, bovine bellow echoed from within as an enormous form emerged, the falling boulders bouncing harmlessly off its shoulders into the sand, as though it didn't even notice them, stomping its massive legs against the ground firmly. Glowing blue eyes pierced the dust and falling debris, honing in on Faulklin and his fleeing steed immediately.

The last Colossus Faulklin fought was still clearly planted within his mind, its size having been impressive, but _this _one was twice as tall as the last and just as long, four times the sheer mass that the last one had been. Rather than bearing the shape of a humanoid, this one had four legs, closer resembling an actual bull rather than a minotaur.

It tried to follow, but it was tediously slow in its steps, taking a great deal of effort to move its great weight. Just as Dormin had said, it was slow. That, at least, was a plus. It meant he would have time to watch and evaluate, and being where he could ride his horse would make that easier than the last time.

Watching it, the mammoth beast was covered in fur in places, same as the last one. Its legs seemed to be made of stone and thick hide, lined in carved stone-like plates that he didn't think he could reach from this height, even if he vaulted off Rebel's back to grab them. Likely its weak point would be on its head again, or he was banking on as much anyway. Reaching it, however, would be the trick.

He eyed the weathered, natural bridge above that they had come across. He thought that perhaps he could leap down onto its back from above, but as large as it was, it wasn't large enough to make up the distance. The fall was too great. If it didn't outright kill him, it would leave him maimed with broken limbs and probably a few ruptured organs. He might do the same with a smaller cliff side, but that would require bringing the Colossus in close enough, and he wasn't sure that would happen. Another option would be to bring it lower, somehow, but Faulklin was a far cry from sure about how to do that.

For now, he was only circling on Rebel's back, biding his time to think. Maybe if he slashed its legs with his sword, he could make it lame. Perhaps even completely incapacitate it. The sacred sword could harm them the way arrows couldn't, after all. He wasn't sure if that would really work, but it was better than having no ideas to try at all.

He turned Rebel toward it at full gallop, drawing the blade, and slashed the side of its leg as he blazed past, but it barely even scratched the thick, stone-like hide, just as he'd feared it might. It was little more than an annoyance to it. So the only vulnerable places to pierce, as far as he could tell, were the parts covered by hair.

_The parts I can't fucking reach_.

It wasn't as if he expected this to be _easy_. Far from it. He would have at least liked it to be _doable_ though.

He continued to ride around, Daijoudan doing similarly somewhere else on the beach where Faulklin couldn't see. The teen cast a glance over his shoulder, trying to find some way to combat the thing. Only a second too late did he realize as he circled around it again that he and Daijoudan were riding opposite ways, the two horses partly crashing into each other.

Daijoudan's horse recovered and dashed off. Faulklin's horse, however, didn't.

Rebel startled with a neigh and faltered, falling over in the path of the Colossus and tossing Faulklin, the kid barely managing to maneuver so he wouldn't be trapped underneath the flailing equine. Scrambling up, he tried to get his horse back on its feet quickly, the Colossus' eyes turning that same glaring red. It bunched itself up, and reared, drawing itself up to look even more ominously imposing and gargantuan than it already was. Faulklin saw a flash of the underside of its hooves, which glowed gold and green patterns.

He didn't have time to dwell on it until after Rebel found his hooves again and they tore out of range as the Colossus crashed its full weight down, rocking the beach and sending up a miasma of sand.

Then he recalled the glowing patterns on its hooves again.

"Don't tell me…" he muttered under his breath, too quietly to be heard over the din of every other noise filling the air.

How the fuck was he supposed to reach a weak point on the underside of its massive hooves without getting himself crushed? He knew he wasn't going to go sticking his arm down there, that was for _damn _sure. Would an arrow work? Even if it would, getting a clear shot would be the trick.

He circled around again, staring intently at its feet. The beast was watching him as well, swiveling to keep him in sight and pursue, but Rebel was too fast to keep up in turning. As they sprinted around the rear of the mammoth Colossus, he momentarily glimpsed the glyphs again, showing plainly and openly for only a second, before stomping back down again.

Maybe he could hit them after all…

Sheathing his sword, he pulled his bow out and wheeled Rebel around, swinging one leg over so that he was ready. Upon getting behind it again, he jumped down, letting Rebel keep running, and rolled as he hit the sand, bow already in one hand and arrow in the other.

Knocking the arrow back, he fired as soon as the rear hoof lifted off the ground, hitting his mark and listening in satisfaction as the beast bellowed and pitched.

As the Colossus fell to a knee, a cloud of sand was kicked up. Faulklin scrambled up and squinted against the sand in the air, idly blowing strands of brown out of his face as he sprinted for the behemoth before it could rise. He heard alarmed neighs and galloping hooves elsewhere, two different sets, but ignored them and sprinted for the partially-fallen Colossus.

He only barely managed to reach it and tightly fist a handful of fur on its knee before it rose again with a mighty groan, causing him to almost lose his grip immediately. He inhaled several long-suffering breaths of effort and scrambled to get higher, even as it shook its rear leg with a moan of pain and irritation.

He didn't stop despite the protest in his arms until he'd climbed to the very top crest of its hip, collapsing in a heap there to regain some of his energy, the smell of old stone and unknown organisms colonizing in its fur overpowering his nose.

He only managed maybe half a minute of rest before the giant tossed its body this way and that, mightily shaking itself like a 120-ton dog in every direction, making the clinging teen flop about like a ragdoll on its hide. The only thing keeping him from falling a good hundred feet to his death was the shaky grasp he had on its shag. He was admittedly relieved when it stopped, clamoring higher towards the stony spine structure at the center of its back, bracing himself against it so he wouldn't be so easy to toss while he figured out what to do next.

"Did you actually manage to haul your scrawny ass up here?" It was Daijoudan's voice, from the other side of the protruding stone spine. He must have climbed up from the opposite leg. "Or am I going to have to clean _you _up next along with the rest of your messes?"

Faulklin scoffed. "Sad I didn't get stepped on?"

"Maybe."

"If you're so eager to see what would become of something under this thing's hooves, why don't you climb down and find out for yourself." The intensity of the situation had done nothing to slow his usual impulse to shoot off scathing quips.

"Why do that when I can just entertain the idea of you getting smashed like a grape instead."

"Because once I throw you off to get trampled, there won't be much left to the imagination anymore anyway."

Daijoudan scoffed. "I'd say you should try finding someone your own size you could actually accomplish that with, but in your case, that'll be damn near impossible."

"Keep it up and the next colossal pain in the ass I'm going to slay is you."

Daijoudan only snorted mockingly.

Faulklin braced himself again as the Colossus tried to shake him off, but to no avail.

"Assuming we don't fall off, hopefully the rest of this one will be easy."

"Oh yeah, just an easy breeze," Faulklin hissed, not sharing the same sentiment. It wasn't that, deep down, he didn't want to share the man's optimism, or as close to optimistic as Daijoudan ever got anyway. In fact, he really, _really _wanted to. He wanted this to be easy, more than anything. The thought of facing another fourteen more of these beasts after this was beyond daunting. The fatigue that was settling in his bones after only killing one and halfway through fighting the second one almost whispered that it'd be better and so much easier to just let the damn thing step on him instead of continuing to fight.

But he'd known that this wouldn't be easy and he wasn't about to fool himself into thinking as much, no matter if their victory was assured from this point on or not.

Shaking these thoughts away, the beast seemed to have lost either interest or knowledge of the pair on its backside and started to walk, no longer trying to throw the two off. He heard the horses braying below and saw one of their forms galloping ahead, the beast slowly lurching after them, more intent on the targets it could see than those on its back.

Khu fluttered down to rest on the beast's stony spine just above where its tail might have been, if it had had one. Faulklin stood low with a steadying hand on its spine, rolling with the motions, and raised the blade to the light again. The sword in his hand pulsed and pointed light nearby, indicating that it sensed one of those glyphs again, which appeared with an intense glow just off the end-top of its rump where a tail-bone-like structure jutted out. He moved closer and threw himself down, finding a secure hold.

With a strenuous effort, he lifted the blade above his head and sheathed the blade deep into the fur and thick hide. The Colossus gave a harrowing screech that sounded every bit the angry bull it embodied with every stab, it taking him four labored plunges of the blade before the glowing sigil disappeared. A fountain of black mist blasted into the sky from the wounds that Faulklin had delivered to the Colossus' weak point, the beast lumbering forward and shaking itself slightly.

_One down…another one to go._

Now he had to reach the monster's head, but that sounded a lot easier in theory than he figured it would be in reality.

Wanting this to be over quickly, Faulklin crawled back to the center of its back and climbed its stone spine, sprinting straight down the center and fighting hard to keep his balance. He lost his footing at the shoulders and face-planted into its fur, but managed to grasp the long strands to keep from sliding. The Colossus blew out a long cry like the foghorn of a massive cargo ship, the sheer volume and bass sending vibrations through his skull.

Blowing hair out of his face in annoyance that had stuck slightly with sweat as he pushed himself up. His blue-eyed glare was fixed on the top of its head where another glyph had started to appear, his azure hue holding a dangerously irate light to it.

"You're going to fucking die…" he muttered in a low, menacing tone, a malevolence that vastly contradicted his young, lithe, baby-faced appearance. It was less of a threat and more of a promise.

Staggering to his feet, he stumbled across the top of its neck and to its head, having to crouch slightly a few times as its swaying mass almost threw him off. When he reached its head, he collapsed onto his knees and drew the blade above his head, bringing it down with a recently familiar _crack_ as it pierced deep through the skull.

The bull shrieked agony and tossed its head violently from one side to the other. It tried to buck, too big to pull off lifting itself from the ground, but attempting none the less. Faulklin flattened himself and held on tightly before stabbing the damn thing again, and again.

He heard a satisfying snapping noise as he drove it down again for a last time before the sigil disappeared, fading out of existence. He braced himself for the monster to fall, crashing heavily into the sand, but it didn't.

It thrashed its head some more, attempting to throw the boy off, but didn't show any sign of stopping yet. Faulklin stopped with a wide eye. He had done it though…stabbed through its weak point, especially the one on its head! Just like he had done with the other one! Unless…

He let out a long, weary breath as he rested his forehead on the top of the pommel and closed his eye, sword still sheathed in the Colossus' skull, looking every bit the part of a defeated, battle-weary soldier as realization dawned on him.

There was _another _weak point somewhere that he still had to hit…

Faulklin drew in several ragged breaths, feeling drained. He wasn't even sure he had the energy to finish the beast off, but he kept telling himself he had to. He _had _to.

_Have to. Have to. You have to finish this. Get your ass up and kill this damn thing you scrawny fucking half-pint bastard. You're not allowed to stop until you've fucking killed it. You're not allowed to let HIM down after everything he's done for you. _

_Get. _

_The. _

_Fuck. _

_Up._

Pulling the sword free, he kept a death grip on the fur of its head and raised the sword up, light glinting off of it, pointing to somewhere lower on the beast's body, some angle it couldn't directly reach.

The Colossus tossed its head up and lumbered forward, approaching one of the stone legs of the great bridge and lowering its head to ram the clinging boy into it and crush him. Faulklin cussed and stood, staggering under the sway of its motions and barely managing to dash far enough up its form to avoid being smashed and killed between it's skull and solid stone. The bridge leg audibly rattled, but still stood without much visible damage, other than some of the carved details being sheered flat.

Still not finding the other glyph, he leapt down onto one of the platform plats on its shoulder, trying to find it. He was rewarded as a glyph appeared on its flank, shining brilliantly.

_There._

Getting to his feet tremulously, he launched himself forward and grabbed onto the fur there with one hand, dangling for a moment and gritting his teeth as his shoulder gave a fierce tug, almost coming out of socket.

He ignored it and scrambled up as best he could, jabbing the blade into its side. The Colossus bellowed in anguish and shook itself to be rid of the miniscule pest.

Rivulets of sweat beaded down his effort-knitted brow and he lost his footing as he dislodged the blade, struggling just to pull himself up where he could stab it gain. It took a massive deal of effort, but he managed to sink the sword in again.

He removed the sword again, only for a gasp to leave his lips as he lost not only his footing but his grip, sliding several feet down its side and only barely managing to regain his hold on the last strands of hair on its side, flailing his legs to try and find a purchase to pull himself up.

He knew better, but his single eye darted to the ground below him. It might not have been enough of a distance to kill him instantly, but he wouldn't be getting back up with any haste. Certainly not fast enough to keep from getting crushed underfoot.

_Shit. Shit! Don't fall. Don't fall. DON'T fall. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit-_

_(Who're you kidding? Just let go and let it smash you. If it's not this one that does it, it'll be the next one. You can't finish this task, even IF you kill this one Colossus)_

_I'm going to finish this. I WILL. I'm not going to die here. I can't. Not until I've finished what I started._

_(You can't do it. What made you think someone as worthless as you could actually do anything right, much less for someone as great as that man you call "Brother"? Ha!)_

_I will. I WILL. I will, damn it!_

Faulklin managed to feebly claw his way up a few inches, closing his eye tightly and willing his strength to hold out, just until he could deliver a last blow to the damn thing, but it felt _so far _away, and he was drained.

_…maybe I _should_ just give in and accept that I can't do this. What asinine logic made me think I even could to begin with? Idiot. Fucking idiot. You never even had a chance. Why did you even try to begin with?_

All he'd have to do is let go and wait for the giant to step on him and that'd be it.

The brunette was snapped out of his pessimistic internal ramblings when Daijoudan grabbed his arm and pulled him up slightly, his single eye snapping with a more familiar fire through his haze of exhaustion. The older male was glaring down at him disapprovingly, and Faulklin returned it equally.

"I told you not to make promises you can't keep!"

"I can... keep it..." Faulklin ground out exhaustedly. "And I don't need your help!"

Even as the words left his lips, he clambered up the giant's side slightly, unadmittedly helped by Daijoudan's 'interference', trying to regain himself enough to deliver the last blow that'd kill the thing. Or at least that was his hope. He'd barely have the strength for one more stab, let alone more than that.

"Then fucking finish it, half-ass!"

_Do or die time._

He lifted the blade, and with a last strenuous effort, plunged it into the center of the weak point on the Colossus' side. Faulklin barely kept a hold as the beast bellowed and swayed, collapsing onto its opposite side and kicking up a cloud of dust as it hit the sands hard and fell completely still, the light of its eyes faded to pits of deep black. Tendrils of inky shadow accompanied this one's death as well, squirming up to the sky like grasping fingers.

Faulklin gasped a few ragged breaths and just lay there, not wanting to move as the fur crumbled and the corpse began to solidify into all stone, becoming another regular mount of stone in the land, though still retaining identifiable features. The only sound in the settling silence was the youth trying to catch his breath and rest, feeling as though he might just pass out where he lay.

"You're fucking insane."

Faulklin snorted. "You knew that, and still tagged along anyway. What does that make you, exactly?"

"A babysitter cursed with the worst brat on the planet and too many regrets for dealing with him."

"I'm not a child."

"Could've fooled me, half-pint."

"Cram your hole," Faulklin rebuked. "With an entire fucking Colossus."

The hairs on Faulklin's head prickled uneasily and he glanced up, watching the swirling tendrils whirl about in the air. Pushing himself up to his knees and trying to stand, he dislodged his sword and took a swing at them as they neared, but the blade didn't even touch them, passing through harmlessly as though they were phantoms. Like before, they pierced into his gut and disappeared and his consciousness was gone, collapsing onto the dead Colossus' side again as a black aura crept over its form.


	5. Knight of the Round

**What I Wouldn't Sacrifice  
>A Shadow of the Colossus Fanfic<strong>

* * *

><p>Faulklin never thought he would hate waking up <em>this <em>much.

Waking up was usually a relief.

Sleeping? The necessary evil.

Awake, he could keep everything that haunted him in check, at least to prying eyes, stuffing all of it somewhere into a black hole in the back of his mind and simply not think about it, out of both is reach and everyone else's. Sleep was where that black hole spit everything back up again and haunted him without mercy, plaguing him until either someone woke him, usually his older brother, or he eventually roused by himself, curled up in such a tight, tense ball from the nightmares that it ached to move.

Aching first thing in the morning was something he was used to, but he never hurt _this_ badly. Not to the point where even just _breathing_ almost made him whimper. Only almost, because he was used to suppressing any signs of pain from those who might like to exploit it.

Gritting his teeth to remain silent, he slid his arms under him and pushed himself up, cold radiating from the dusty stone beneath him. He was quickly aware of where he was once again as he glanced up. Back inside Dormin's shrine.

Daijoudan was sitting on the steps to the alter again, one elbow propped on a knee to support his head, eyes closed. Two white doves that almost seemed to glow lingered around him on the steps. Asleep, maybe?

Faulklin glanced around, and saw that the second stone idle had crumbled already like the first. That was when he felt the presence of Dormin in the air again, the sky rumbling with many omnipotent voices. Faulklin glanced up through the cylindrical hole in the ceiling where light pooled down from.

_**"Thy next foe is... **__**A giant canopy soars to the heavens... The anger of the sleeping giant shatters the**** earth."**_

There were eyes on him. He felt it well before he turned his head towards Daijoudan.

"Go rushing off and I'll make whatever aches you're feeling twice as bad." Was that tiredness in his voice? Maybe even pain, albeit well-veiled.

Ha! Served the royal stiff right.

"If you want to get gutted that badly, just come out and say it. I'll happily oblige," Faulklin quipped in return. He did so enjoy watching a vein pop out along Daijoudan's face when he got angry. "Or you could just save me the trouble and go jump off a bridge instead. We have one just over yonder that'd be perfect for you." He thumbed over his shoulder at the spiral pathway where they'd first come in from.

"Keep telling yourself that. You're the only suicidal ignoramus that would even come up with that idea."

"Yeah, I guess it _would_ be kind of hard to think of it when you're too distracted by the wind whistling through that empty passageway you call a skull, wouldn't it?" He swung up onto Rebel's saddle.

"Better empty than full of shit." Daijoudan stood, the doves startling and taking flight, disappearing outside.

"Someone like you that's so tight-assed it's a miracle you don't crap diamonds wouldn't know 'full of shit' if you were drowning in an ocean of it." Faulklin nudged Rebel into a trot, heading outside and lifting his blade to the light, faint beams dancing off it in all directions. Once again, when he turned to find where it would point, it was somewhere behind Dormin's shrine, in the same general direction as the 2nd Colossus had been.

He took off on Rebel as Daijoudan started to catch up on his mare, heading the same way. They crossed the natural bridge over the small sea and sands below, but instead of heading down the slope to the right, this time they continued straight, onto the other side of the canyon where stone and grass became orange sand. As they cleared the small hill of stone that partially obscured their view to the left, Faulklin steered his horse around it, following the light towards the entrance to a ravine.

Just before it, he pulled Rebel to a stop, near a small pool of water shadowed by medium-sized boulders and a few sapling trees. Hopping off Rebel's back, he kneeled down and cupped water in his hands, taking a few drinks, while his horse drank as well. Haste or otherwise, he still knew better than to go on without stopping to rehydrate whenever fresh drinking water became available, especially on the way to a fight that was going to quickly tax his energy.

When he was done, he hopped back onto the stallion and continued into the shadow of the rising stone walls. Hooves clacked against stone, the sound bouncing around them. Sitting across the top of the ravine not far in was a long, grey pillar of stone, spotted in rust-like orange, that split down its center to branch out. Not long beyond that, a hint of light broke through the shadow of the cliffs, just highlighting the tops of them. A few small trees found purchase at the very edge of a lake amongst moist, fallen leaves, and cool fog wafted by in a curtain that wasn't quite enough to hide the rising stone in the center of the lake which mushroomed out at the top. As he rode along the bank, surveying the scene from afar, he noticed a sloping path that coiled around the outer edge toward the top.

This must be the 'canopy' Dormin mentioned.

Only one problem: the start of the path was submerged under several feet of water. And several yards away from shore.

Faulklin scowled silently as the two horses came to stop in the shallows, staring across the water. And he could feel those damn eyes on him again.

"Something wrong?"

"No."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were getting cold feet."

Faulklin scoffed. "Hardly." He still didn't move from the saddle.

"Then why wait all of a sudden?"

"I'm just thinking ahead of time so I'm prepared, that's all." It was somewhat of a bluff.

A huff that might have been laughter. "You? Stop to think?"

Faulklin gave him a glare. "How'd you like to be drown in one foot of water?"

"First you'd have to get off your damn horse."

Damn that guy. Did he know...?

Faulklin scoffed and swung down, the cold of the water through his clothes immediately sending a shiver up his spine. At the very least, he had his horse between himself and Daijoudan as he took a steadying breath, wading forward.

He could do this. It wasn't that far. Maybe just pushing off would make up the difference without any trouble.

Taking a breath, he dunked under the water and pushed off the steps, gliding through the water. And then he stopped going forward. And he floundered.

He tried to keep calm, struggling to surface again and find something underfoot, but all he got was more water, and more water beneath that, grasping for something - _anything_ - to pull himself out, whether it be the shore or the stone pathway up the rock canopy, but he couldn't seem to remember which way he was going, losing air and starting to take on water.

A hard tug on the back of his shirt pulled him along, and just when he couldn't hold his breath anymore, he surfaced, sucking in a hard gasp and sputtering as he was hauled onto tilted stone.

"Fucking moron. If you can't swim, then say something about it, don't just try anyway!"

Was that asshole _really _going to patronize him when he almost drown? Oh, but of course. That was exactly why he was an asshole.

"I don't want or need your damn help!"

Daijoudan rolled his eyes, snatching Faulklin by the shirt collar and shoving, holding him back out over the water. "Fine then, since you don't need my help, how about I just throw you back out there so you can do it yourself?" He smirked at the wide-eyed glare Faulklin gave him, hands wrapped around his wrist in a death grip.

"Fuck you!" That was as much of an admission as the man figured he was going to get out of the brat. He threw him back onto stone and ignored the dirty over-the-shoulder glare that the kid gave him.

Faulklin shook his dripping hair out and stood, somewhat unsteady, but pushed forward without a word towards the top of the path. It was almost a miracle the kid didn't try to run him through with the sword he carried, even if he _would_ fail, because Daijoudan had no reservations about making his threat to throw the little shit back into the water to drown a reality if he _did_ attempt it.

As they crested the top of the path, Faulklin was regaining some of his confidence, walking a bit more strongly. They found their way out of the shadows cast by the cliffs, warm sun on their backs, but then they came across another barrier. The path didn't directly connect to the canopy, or if it had, those segments had long ago crumbled away. They were going to have to jump for the ledge.

Faulklin eyed the distance and drop in calculation, readying himself to leap.

"Try not to miss!" the brunette-blond snarked. Daijoudan only scoffed aloud, crossing his arms.

"It's not me you have to worry about missing."

"Worry about your own imcompetant ass before it gets shoved back under the water and drowned on the lake bottom where it belongs," he hissed with clear intent that he'd be the one to carry it out himself if it came to that.

"Except that, unlike another dumbass I know, I can actually swim if I hit the water."

Faulklin silently flipped him off before sprinting forward and leaping across, managing to only barely catch the ledge with his hands and haul himself up. Daijoudan soon followed, only to cuss profoundly as Faulklin stomped one of his hands, almost making him fall as he was left only one to hold on with. The kid stuck his tongue out cheekily.

"Threaten me like that again and I'll crush your other hand next." The pure _audacity_ of that little fucker!

Faulklin danced back out of reach as Daijoudan tried to swing upward and grab the boy's leg with his free hand, looking down smugly.

"The Colossi are going to be the _least_ of your worries once I get up there!"

Faulklin only rolled his eye and smirked, traipsing away to climb up the rest of the way to the top of the circular canopy. "Promises~, Promises~"

He turned his attention back to his task, single eye wandering to a form crumbled in the center of the canopy, which was more like a large, wall-less arena. He could tell immediately by the view of blue-grey fur and ruin-like structures that the mass was a Colossus, but it didn't appear to have noticed him yet. Maybe he could finish this before it even had a chance to rise.

He drew his blade and started to run forward, but a echoing, long, drawn-out groan stopped him as the beast began to stir and move, the ground beneath Faulklin's feet rumbling with its vocalization.

The first thing to come up was a long arm, clutching a stone rod that was just as long as the last Colossus' body had been, before one arm pushed it to sit up, small bits of rock raining down off its humanoid form, then pushed itself to its feet, which were large, round orbs beneath stilts of stone armor. The impression he got was of a knight, clad in armor and wielding a sword, of sorts.

Faulklin couldn't help but swallow nervously as he watched the beast ascend its full height, putting that of the previous two utterly to shame. Was _every_ Colossus going to be that much larger than the last?! It seemed as though each one doubled in size from the one before it. It wasn't as wide, but it had to be at least twice as tall. He eyed the Colossus warily, watching the long weapon held in hand, calculating.

The Colossus slowly lumbered closer, though each massive step still carried it a great distance. When it deemed it had come close enough, it planted one leg back, arching the weapon and bringing it swinging clear over its head, rapidly bringing it down towards the short teen.

_That thing has one Hell of a reach with that weapon. This is going to be a lot more dangerous than the last two_.

He turned and ran to the side as the Colossus' weapon came crashing down, vaulting forward and rolling across the ground. The impact into packed soil kicked up a cloud and sent Faulklin bouncing off his feet, even from a distance. The pure shockwave rattled his bones and left him breathless, but it seemed he had a moment to recover as the Colossus struggled to pull its weapon from the pit of soil it had created with its swing.

Running would be a useless endeavor, it would recover too quickly for him to do anything other than dodge again, so he crouched where he was and eyed it appraisingly, trying to scope out a way to climb up, eye tracing over every inch of the titan. There was no decent purchase on the structure of its legs. Not that he could scale without getting knocked off anyway. It's arms were too high to reach, unless he could get it to lower itself slightly, but why would it ever do that?

He watched the Colossus finally free its 'sword' from where it was imbeded it at least a good two feet into the dirt, leaving a crater behind. Perhaps…if he timed it right, he could run right up its weapon before it had the chance to knock him off, and grab onto the fur of its arm.

He still didn't know where it's weak points were, however, and after his last encounter, he wasn't going to risk attacking it without knowing how much work was involved as well. If he missed so much as _one_ weak-point, the Colossus wouldn't fall, and he only had so much energy to fight with. He had to be more careful about how he approached his fights from now on.

It's swing came for him again, and he bolted, leaping away from the impact site. The ground bounced him up again as he was summersaulting, traveling through his shoulders, but he managed to get back to his feet quickly and keep running some ways.

Daijoudan was soon to join him. Either he hadn't fallen off the ledge - one could dream, right? - or he was a really fast swimmer with infinite patience to even bother coming back and climbed back up again. Since Daijoudan was _not_ a person of infinite patience for dealing with annoying shit, Faulklin guessed it was the former.

"So do you actually have a fucking plan this time?"

"I'm working on it," Faulklin snapped, skidding to a stop and raising his sword to the light, just as the giant began to pull his weapon loose again, shaking like a wet dog, another cascade of loose stone crumbling from its armor. The light pointed towards the Colossus' stomach first.

_One_.

The next, which was obvious, was its head.

_Two_.

Faulklin swiveled the blade to see if another might appear, which he had little doubt. The light pointed somewhere else, but didn't show a glyph, so Faulklin was left to guess it was at an angle which he couldn't see.

_Three_.

The possibility of there being more didn't escape his attention, but they'd run out of time to sit and ponder, the Colossus turning to take another swing, and they ran again, scattering to either side. The pounding of the weapon into the soil was deafening, almost making his ears pop.

"Hey," Faulklin barked. If the idiot was going to keep following him, he might as well make the silver-haired jerk useful. "There's another weak point, but I can't see it from this side. Distract the thing for me." He had an idea of where it was, but he needed to be sure.

Daijoudan snorted disbelief. He hadn't forgotten that damn punk stomping his hand and trying to knock him into the water, never mind all the other ways the brunette caused him strife.

"I should just trip you and let it smash your ass down like a nail."

"Try it and I'll have your leg like a steel trap. Drag you down with me into the grave. Won't be a _pretty-boy_ anymore after that." Daijoudan had no doubts the scrawny psychopath _would_, too. "If you're not going to make yourself useful, then get the Hell out. I don't need dead weight to carry around."

"As if you could carry much of anything on those toothpicks you call limbs, pipsqueak."

"I can carry my own weight, at least!" the youth snapped, leaping to his feet to dodge another incoming swing from the Colossus, its weapon's collision with the earth knocking the breath out of him even from a distance.

He panted and his single eye traveled up the length of its 'sword' trapped in the soil, an idea forming. Recovering slightly, he rolled off the uppermost ledge of the circle and onto the one beneath that, tucking himself into the shadow of the uppermost levels as he tried to think. If he could run up it on one of it's swings, then just maybe...

But that was no good. A large ring of stone encased its arm, blocking his path. He'd only be able to reach its wrist, and after that, it would all be in vain unless he could get past it, and holding onto rock that was _moving_ was an entirely different story from climbing up a solid, still cliff. Nearly impossible. Even _if _the armor appeared as if crumbling and ready to fall off...

That gave him another idea. Maybe the armor could be broken with the right amount of force. The only problem was, how were they going to do that? The soil in the arena wasn't going to cut it, it was too soft. His eye traveled further, trying to figure out what to do next. Maybe the outer stone sides of the platform? Those might do it, but it was a gamble. He licked his lips in thought and poked his head back up, seeing the giant walking after Daijoudan as the man ran, distracting it.

Faulklin noticed an unnatural, light-gray circle in the center of the plateau, the Colossus' feet stomping down on it, but not even making a dent like it did the rest of the arena.

That was when it clicked. It looked to be stone, hopefully solid. If he could get it to strike down full-force on that circle, then just maybe...

He climbed out of hiding and sprinted for the circle, flinging himself forward and stopping on it. Raising his sword, he found the last glyph on the back of its arm, and raised his fingers to his lips, whistling shrilly. The Colossus halted its chase of Daijoudan and turned to stare with blue eyes obscured by distance. The titan rumbled and began to turn arduously, planting a leg back and going to swing.

_At least these damn things aren't terribly bright,_ Faulklin thought with a triumphant grin beginning to form. He held his ground as long as his nerves would allow, before turning and sprinting, the shadow of the weapon falling over him. He vaulted forward and heard a deafening boom of stone-on-stone, his entire body rattling with the shock of the hit, and glanced up.

Splitting loudly, part of the ring that encased the Colossus' arm began to fracture and fall away, until a large chunk separated and careened to the earth. Faulklin's victorious grin fully blossomed and he leapt to his feet. Now he'd just have to find a way up, but he already knew how he was going to do that. All that was left was to set the stage and get the behemoth to take another swing at him.

Dazed, the Colossus shook itself angrily and took a few more steps forward, raising its weapon again to strike. Faulklin was more prepared this time and figured he had gotten fairly good at the timing now, so he waited until just the right moment to move, the weapon lodging in the earth again. Not wasting even a second, Faulklin whirled and sprinted up the path of the stone 'sword', reaching its wrist just as it pulled free once more.

Feeling more confident by the second, he grasped a fistful of fur and began his climb, knowing what he had to do fairly well at this point. The first part of the climb was easy, reaching what remained of the Colossus' arm armor and taking a moment to collect himself. He was thinking more strategically now, trying to figure out what weak point to attack first. The one on the stomach as the nearest, but also the one closest to the ground. The first glyph would be easiest, but as the fight dragged on, he'd lose energy and strength. Around the Colossus' hips was a platform he could rest on when not holding onto its fur and trying to strike its weak point, so he decided he would go for that one last, and the highest point, it's head, first.

"Don't you dare fucking fall from up there!" Daijoudan called, drawing the Colossus' partial attention as Faulklin scaled up the back of its right arm.

"No shit, _Geniass_,_" _Faulkin rebuked, managing to reach the Knight's shoulder. The Colossus paused and rolled its shoulders, but it did little to throw the brunette off. Daijoudan whistled to gain its attention, and it began to walk again.

Faulklin's eye scoured the space atop the monster that he would have to work with. One of the glyphs was on the top of its head, but it would be easy for the Colossus to flick him off into a deadly drop if he wasn't careful. If he lost strength or needed a break, though, it should be easy enough to jump onto the back of its neck and take a quick breather, if he really had to. He planned to use that to his full advantage.

He scaled up to the base of its neck, its rolling pitch making him sway unsteadily, even as he kneeled. He caught his breath, then made the rest of the way to the Colossus' head, driving his blade into its skull.

The Colossus stopped with a groan of pain and pitched forward, hanging its head. Faulklin knew he shouldn't look, but his eye wandered down, and his stomach fell into his hanging feet as he saw how high up he was suspended. The giant flicked its head side to side, but it wasn't enough to dislodge him.

After what seemed like an eternity, it flipped its head back, and Faulklin with it, though he still had a hold of his sword and the fur on the top of the Colossus head. He adjusted his grip on the Colossus' shag, drew his sword out, and plunged it into the same wound again, a shattering _CRACK_ resonating in his ears. Before the Colossus could toss him forward again, he dislodged his blade and let go as it threw its head back first, hitting its shoulders and rolling. He cursed and scrambled for a grip, catching a piece of armor and hauled himself back up before he could fall to his death.

_Too close._

Scaling back up, he leapt onto its head is it swung back up to full height, driving his blade inward and feeling the beast twitch painfully under him with a guttural growl. He drive the blade in again, a fourth and fifth time. It flicked its head forward again so that Faulklin was dangling, starting to tire. One of the Colossus' hands came up to swat him off, almost succeeding. Using it to his full advantage, he braced his feet against its hand, drawing the blade out, and drove it in a sixth time down the center, the glyph finally disappearing.

With a violent shudder, the Colossus flipped its head up again, tossing Faulklin into the air and making him fly, before falling back down hard onto its shoulders, knocking the wind out of his lungs. He lay dazed for a moment as he tried to regain himself, his task not yet through. He had to finish off the last two glyphs, _then _he could worry about resting somewhat. At least until it was time to go after the fourth Colossus.

The Colossus shook itself violently, throwing its shoulders forward and back and once again trying to throw the boy off like water on a dog, making him flip over a few times with his fingers still tangled in its musty, matted fur.

Crawling across its shoulders, he dropped down several feet, gripping its fur as he found the glyph on the back of his arm and driving his blade into it, stopping his descent at the same time that he attacked it. Two birds, one stone.

The Colossus groaned its displeasure and jerked its arm back, but Faulklin held firm. It took four good stabs and almost falling as his arms and legs tired before this glyph vanished, and with the last of what he had left to hold on, he angled himself to the side and leapt for the ledge of the structure around the Colossus' waist, heaving himself up it and laying flat to regain some of his energy.

Debris from the armor pieces above rained down and belted him, small stones clattering over the edge of the structure to the ground below, which was, thankfully, a lot closer than it had been when Faulklin had been dangling from its head. It was still a drop that could kill, _definitely_ a drop that would maim, but a lot less worrisome than earlier.

Seeming to have thought it had shaken him off, the Colossus continued to pursue Daijoudan now, arching its body back and swinging for him. The man managed to dodge the blows relatively well, not showing any signs of slowing, but Faulklin didn't care to watch for more than a few seconds. As entertaining as it would be to watch the man get pounded into the dirt like some twisted real-life whack-a-mole.

Drawing in several breaths, fouled by the proximity to the Colossus' reeking fur, he stood and made his way to the front of the Colossus and found the glyph on its stomach. Clutching his sword with both hands, he drove it into the last of the weak points, the entire Colossus arching with a howl of pain and staggering. The glyph still didn't disappear, but he hadn't expected it to with only one hit. He twisted harshly as he pulled the blade out and plunged it into the Colossus again, ducking as it buckled forward and shook.

One mighty hand swooped in and tried to crush him, but he dislodged his blade and circled around the platform to its back, crouching their in safety as the Colossus tried to recover, standing mightily once more.

Faulklin took that moment to circle back to the front and stab into it, satisfied with the violent spasm that traveled up its form, signaling that it was just about finished. More chips of rock rained down, dusting his hair in fragments, but he ignored them, bringing the blade in once more, twice more, and then the glyph vanished.

The Colossus staggered, throwing its head back, and then its form arched, and it began to fall. Faulklin cursed as it fell forward, the ground rushing up. He scrambled toward its side rather than the front and flung himself forward as the ground became that much closer, tumbling through the air ungracefully and shutting his eyes, knowing that even if the fall wouldn't kill him, it was going to hurt. A Hell of a lot.

Earth wasn't what he hit, colliding with flesh that bowled over and rolled, landing in a tangled heap of limps, adrenaline, panting, and short tempers.

"I told you to stop fucking trying to 'help' me," Faulklin spat, rolling onto his back and closing his single eye as he heard the last of collapse from the massive Colossus hitting the platform squarely.

"_Tch._ You're fucking welcome," Daijoudan hissed back. Honestly, how did this brat get off with being so damn unappreciative of even the smallest things? The man did not envy Mamoru's three years spent raising the kid at all. The man had to have more patience than the most faithful of priests and monks.

Neither had the energy to continue quibbling and fell silent, simply focusing on trying to catch their breath. Daijoudan saw a flash of those same black tendrils that had appeared after the last few fights from within the Colossi, and didn't have to even look this time to know what had happened as he heard Faulklin gasp next to him and his breathing quiet to a shallow rhythm.


	6. The Grand Scheme of it All

**What I Wouldn't Sacrifice  
>A Shadow of the Colossus Fic<strong>

* * *

><p>Faulklin groaned breathlessly as he stirred. If there had been any parts of his body that he hadn't been aware of existing before, he knew they were there now, agony racking every nerve and strained breath. It had been <em>years<em> since he'd hurt to this level. Fatigue tugged at every one of his muscles and his mind, threatening to tug him back down into the embrace of unconsciousness.

_Maybe I could just lie here and kill over_, he mused silently, entertaining the idea for all of a few minutes before shoving it violently aside and starting to move experimentally. He started only with one arm, grunting as the very ligaments in the limb protested, then found ground with the opposite hand, and started to push himself up. It took far more effort than should have been necessary just to find his knees, drawing in several hard breaths, which his ribs protested profusely.

"You'll stay down if you know what's good for you."

Faulklin glared exhaustedly through blond bangs, less than appreciative of the comment.

"And you'll zip your lips if you want to keep them," Faulklin returned, needing a moment to gather his energy to stand. He swayed, but managed to stay on his feet. He sucked in a few sharp gasps and turned his gaze skyward through the ceiling's opening. "Dormin! Give me the next task!" He could still feel Daijoudan's eyes boring into him like hot coals, but he didn't care.

The sky rung in announcement of the beings' presence, before the familiar voice boomed down, **_"Thy next foe is... In the land of the vast green fields... Rows of guiding graves... It is giant indeed but fearful, it is not."_**

And then it was gone again.

Faulklin grimaced and turned for his horse with an unsteady limp, tracing a hand up to his shoulder as it panged. He must have strained the socket in his fights with the Colossi, but he wasn't one to dwell on every little injury. It wasn't as if he hadn't had plenty enough throughout his life, many of them far worse than this. He was aware of being watched and quickly dropped his hand back to his side.

"Sit."

"No." Faulklin didn't even humor Daijoudan with a glance, checking Rebel's tack over and making sure it was snug.

"I'm not fucking around," Daijoudan spat, directing with his eyes. "_Sit. Down._"

"Make me," the teen spat belligerently, eye focused on his task.

"This isn't a game."

Faulklin scoffed. "I never said it was, did I?"

"But you act like it."

"I don't."

"Yes, you do," Daijoudan stated flatly. After a moment of silence, he added, "Is Komeko's game a life to you too?" He noticed Faulklin almost flinch. Almost, but not quite.

"I don't care. Don't mistake my reasons for being here as being the same as yours. Her life doesn't mean anything to me." The words were almost impossibly soft and subdued as he muttered them, yet every syllable sounded entirely sincere. They came more strongly as he continued, no longer reluctant. "And anyway, if the Colossi don't kill me, the Elder and his warriors _will _once they get here, and with nothing to show for it if I can't finish this before they have the chance to stop me."

The thought of death wasn't unappealing to him, especially not if he, by some miracle, managed to accomplish his task, but that didn't mean he _wanted _to go charging in to fight more of those titanic monstrosities. He'd like nothing more than to turn around, go home, and just sleep it all away like a bad dream, but he was determined to see his self-appointed mission through whatever the cost.

"It won't matter if you drop dead in the attempt anyway. Whether the Elder, a Colossus, or exhaustion kills you, it's all the same."

"Nobody asked you."

Was that really the best comeback the brat had? No scalding profanity? No threats of bodily harm and dismemberment? If he didn't even have the energy for that, what made him think he had the energy to fight another one of those monstrosities?

"You're not going running off to fight another one."

Faulklin finally looked up, glaring personal challenge. "Just try and stop me."

Apparently the man was prepared to do just that, because he stood and advanced forward in warning with a glare of searing intensity. His subconscious screamed at him to back off and go the other way, the conditioning he'd developed as a child trying to kick in and tell him to retreat, but there was no way in Hell he was backing down for this over-authoritative prick, stubbornly glaring up at him through messy brown bangs. Rebel sidled to the side uneasily, as if sensing the impending fight.

Faulklin's hand twitched for his sword, the two staring each other down for a moment, watching the tension in each other's bodies for when they would move, and for who would do so first. Faulklin's hand shot to the handle of his weapon and Daijoudan shot forward, closing the distance in a blinding second and punching the shorter male hard in the gut, while Faulklin's blade was still only half-drawn.

The boy gasped out in anguish and crumpled, hitting the ground solidly as he fell, and was out like a light even before that.

Daijoudan heard an enraged bray and quickly backed off as Faulklin's horse galloped in with teeth bared and ears flat, coming to stop over his rider protectively and just _daring_ Daijoudan to come anywhere close. He had no intention of doing so, and merely huffed, turning away to sit on the stairs again.

"Idiot. You're in no condition to go charging off so soon if that's all it took to drop you." Faulklin wasn't the best fighter, especially in close combat, but he was as skilled as any person realistically could be when it came to dodging.

It wasn't just his slight size. Reacting to quick movement and compensating to avoid it was as second-nature to him as it was natural for water to fit a mold. Hitting him solidly was like trying to grab onto a greased pig that was running full-tilt. Daijoudan knew that well from many, _many_ sparring sessions. The snappy youth would never have let the man get him that easily were he actually well enough to move.

Sighing, he folded his legs and got comfortable, needing to relax and meditate.

He was rue to admit it, but health wasn't the only reason he wasn't letting Faulklin go charging off. He was hurting as well, which was saying a lot considering that, Emperor or no, he was quite active when it came to combat and travel. The Sanryuu royal family were not ones who simply sat on the sidelines when conflict arose and let their subjects handle it all while they cozied themselves away behind the safety of city walls. Daijoudan had seen many battles throughout his lifetime, some of them as Prince but mostly after becoming Emperor when his father died during the war some years past. It was just that usually those battles entailed fighting other people, not giants of myth and legend.

For him to be aching as much as he was though, he was sure it had to be far worse for Faulklin, since he had personally done a lot more fighting and climbing of the Colossi than Daijoudan had, since it was a task _he_ had agreed to accomplish.

Daijoudan would hazard a guess that the kid had pulled at least one muscle somewhere. He didn't see how the kid couldn't have. He might even have cracked bones or damaged tendons. He needed to let them rest and heal, at least somewhat, when he was getting to the point that he was physically having trouble just standing. Otherwise whatever damage his muscles were taking on would only become that much worse. If they became bad enough, they could even become a disability, if not get the little retard killed. Not only would their progress so far be entirely in vain, but they would walk away both empty-handed _and_ having lost more than they ever gained out of it.

Besides, he needed some time to sort through his own thoughts, without having it occupied by a fight with beings no human should rightfully have to fight. Not with even one of those beasts. Certainly as Hell not sixteen of them. So far they'd taken down three, but they wouldn't last if they kept going at the same pace, even if Faulklin refused to admit it. The human body wasn't meant to withstand that much strain over such a short burst of time. _Something_ would eventually have to break, and it would be sooner rather than later.

He breathed in slowly, then out; in, then out. There was a soft, tantalizing whisper in his head, but he didn't humor it, instead detaching away from it, but not ignoring its existence either. There was a second whispering in some other part of his mind, and he instead chose to focus on that one, yet remain between them, choosing neither side to favor following. One side was shadow, the other light, and between them a razor's edge of silver that he mentally balanced on perfectly, like a narrow path with steep edges that would cut if he stepped the wrong way.

_Breathe in. Breathe out._

Something about this entire situation involving Dormin and the Colossus didn't sit right with him. Dormin was not a god, he knew that much, but he was something greater than any mere mortal or a common spirit. Something you didn't just let yourself get carelessly strung along by without thinking, the way the scrawny idiot was doing.

A deep breath in. A long breath out.

Dormin wanted something. He certainly hadn't agreed to Faulklin's proposal _'out of the goodness of his heart'_. There was an ulterior motive. There was _always_ an ulterior motive. Even with gods, there was a motive behind what they did that was never entirely selfless. When there wasn't, all they did was sit, and watch, and wait for the right time to get involved. Between gods and demons, the motives and end goal was different, but always still there. So what motive could Dormin have to strike such a deal? Especially one that broke the laws of mortality to reverse death. That wasn't something that he imagined a god would grant, no matter what sort of pity they felt for the one who suffered the loss. Death was part of life. That was the natural order of things. Coping was part of the test of living. Pain brought the opportunity for growth and change.

In. And out.

Something about the Colossus had been bothering him as well. Most creatures had vulnerable places that led to death, but they were vulnerable for a reason. The body needed its organs to function. Places like the neck carried blood to those organs to make them work. Places like the head or skull were fragile because of the brain, or places like the chest because of lungs and heart. A blow to the head of almost all creatures, much less a stab with a sword, was usually lethal. Of course, none of these weak points had beacons that silently screamed _'Hit me HERE'_.

In. And out.

What was the purpose for the existence behind the Colossi? Why did Dormin want them destroyed? Why did the Colossus have such markings to indicate their weak points, showing Faulklin _just_ where to strike? And what was the significance behind those shadows that came out of the beasts after they were slain, and why did they disappear into Faulklin?

_In. _A pause. _Out._

The Colossus were not regular forms of life, if they were living things at all. Not in the way that most creatures existed, anyway. Part of their bodies were of obvious human construction. Their heads were the most obvious, carved stone with lights for eyes, imbedded into fleshy stone and matted shag fur. The first Colossus had had shelves on its back and stone plates around its leg, but it wasn't something clever enough to have fashioned such things to itself, from what he had seen. Even if the Colossi were smart enough to do so, the second one had no such limbs do the same, having been very much animal with flat hooves. And the third Colossus, despite having hands, didn't have ones with enough dexterity, and it's "fingers" had been stone attached to it as well, not organic.

_In. Out._

What were the Colossus? Not organic life forms. Were he to guess at all, he'd say they were more like dolls. Vessels.

_Vessels for _what_, though? _That was an obvious one. Those black tendrils that had snaked out of them after death, and disappeared inside Faulklin. The question was, what were those tendrils? Spirits of some kind? Or something else? And why were they trapped inside the Colossus in the first place, as well as how did they get there?

_Because they were sealed in there_.

But he still didn't know _why_. And more pressingly, why it was so important to Dormin that their vessels be destroyed. And why, when they sought a new vessel, they sought specifically after Faulklin. Not just one, but all of them, into the same already-occupied body. What was Dormin's and the Colossi's connection to each other? Were they servants of Dormin? Or enemies?

_In. Out._

For all his uncertainties, he knew one thing. Superstitious or not, whether Emon and his people were in good faith or bad, the forbidden lands were forbidden for a reason, as was the taboo of trying to resurrect the dead.

Faulklin was playing with fire, and no matter if he succeeded or not, he was going to get burned, if not consumed by it entirely.

Except no force in the world could stop the brat from being stupid. Plenty had tried.

He opened his eyes and glanced outside, another thought crossing his mind.

How long had it been? Were he to guess, between the time it took them to travel between fights, and the fights themselves, it _had _to of been at least a full day. Night should be upon them, but he couldn't tell if the sun had even moved. The shadows still all cast the same direction as when they had first entered, and the sun had neither set nor risen, only stayed stationary.

Had they really been here such a short amount of time? Or did time flow differently here?

Was it naturally that way, or did Dormin have some involvement in that as well?

He sighed through his nose quietly and glanced over at Faulklin, still unconscious, and his loyal stallion still standing vigil over the boy and giving Daijoudan the dirty eye, ears flattened and nostrils flaring wider as their gazes met. Daijoudan disregarded the horse and sat back, resting his head on one propped knee.

Whatever the significance behind Dormin, the Colossus, and those shadows, Faulklin probably wouldn't care about any of it, even if Daijoudan had managed to piece all of it together and figured out what the grand scheme in all this was. Stubborn little ass didn't care about much of anything and refused to do what he was told, no matter how well-intentioned, and the silver-haired male didn't have the patience to keep arguing about it.

_At least its actually quiet now with his dumb ass unconscious._


	7. The Horse within the Glen

**What I Wouldn't Sacrifice  
>A Shadow of the Colossus Fanfiction<strong>

* * *

><p>This time when Faulklin awoke, it was with confusion. Had he gone and fought the fourth Colossus? If he had, he couldn't remember. Nor did he think he'd laid down and gone to sleep. He didn't think he'd simply passed out either.<p>

He groaned as he lifted his head off the ground and slid his arms under him, pushing himself up slightly and noting as he did so that there were a pair of feathered horse legs in front of him. It was at that point he glanced up, realizing that Rebel was standing directly over him, and the teen crawled out from under the stallion so that he could stand properly.

He didn't ache quite so badly, but the adolescent was still very much sore. The pain was little more than a dull, lasting throb though, and whatever amount of sleep he'd managed had been at least slightly rejuvenating.

Which raised the question... how long had he been out?

The sun hadn't seemed to have moved at all, light still cast through the same place as before, but it couldn't possibly be the same time of day.

Or maybe it wasn't the same day at all. Maybe he'd slept all the way until the next.

It was at that point his gaze lingered on Daijoudan, the man appearing to be asleep with one knee propped up, where he rested his head. Some memory that was just out of reach pricked at the back of his mind, something having to do with Daijoudan... yet he couldn't quite place what it was.

And then it all came flooding back.

"Son of a bitch!" Of all the nerve! For that asshole to knock him out like that!

Just as he began to storm up to the man, those silver hues cracked open faintly, not entirely alert but awake enough to recognize the younger male and his advance.

"Problem?"

"What the Hell do you think?" Faulklin snarled, bristling. "Fuck yes there's a problem, you narcissistic, overinflated piece of shit! What right do you think you have to try knocking me out?"

"I didn't _try _anything, I just _did_." The silverette yawned, unaffected by Faulklin's anger. That didn't mean he let the brat grab him by the collar like the shorter boy intended, Daijoudan snatching his wrist firmly, looking entirely unapologetic. Maybe even so far as to say _smug_. He tried to hit him with the free hand, but Daijoudan caught that too.

"Let me go so I can hit you!"

Daijoudan snorted and rolled his eyes. "As if."

"Is that all you have to say?" Faulklin growled, narrowing his eye and trying to pull his wrists free.

"Well I _could _insult you," Daijoudan hummed, the epitome of indifference. "But it would probably just go over your head." He stood up and Faulklin could feel the smirk in Daijoudan's voice even though he couldn't see one. "Just like my sightline."

Faulklin growled and raised his leg back to kick, but Daijoudan merely knocked the other one out from under him, at the same moment that he twisted his arms to spin the boy around and let him fall flat on his back against the steps, hissing in pain. Daijoudan only huffed something that might have been laughter and stepped past him, going to his horse.

"Now are you coming or not?" Faulklin blinked and glanced over at the older male as he mounted his horse, clutching the reigns and looking bored. "I imagine you still haven't given up on slaying the other Colossi."

"Of course not," Faulklin snapped, getting to his feet and walking over to Rebel, hopping on the stallion's back. He took a moment just to breathe, his single eye flitting over Komeko's still form on the alter, before they headed out. He was trying to recall Dormin's words, but they were lost to memory. It probably didn't matter, anyway. He could find it with the sword's light and worry about how to defeat the fourth Colossus on his own merit.

He was silently hoping that this one wasn't going to be twice as large as the last one, as had seemed the theme so far. Those had been hard enough, but if every new one just got bigger and bigger, he wasn't sure how he would be able to keep up. Even he, the borderline poster child of unyielding stubbornness to the point most would probably call stupidity, had to admit that there was only so much that was humanly possible, even though he felt as if he had already pulled off three impossibilities so far.

Their path took them into a narrow ravine within easy sight of the Temple's entrance, cloaked in shadow and the ground covered in too many lizards, the small reptiles dashing out of their way and up the walls as the two riders came through. It wasn't terribly long and soon opened up with sunlight reaching a grassy glen just beyond another small ravine that cut across their path. Strings of lichen hung from a rocky overhang a few stories above them, and small trees sat on the edges of the valley where the sun didn't quite reach. In the center looked to be a half-mount of dirt with a small stone doorway leading underground.

There was still no sign of the Colossus, but both men kept their guards up as they circled the far lip of the fissure that separated them from the field, keeping their senses trained for any sight or sound of the monster. There was a distinctive hum of tree leaves rustling with the wind as they entered the field and Faulklin gazed around warily, but saw nothing immediately grabbing his attention. He was sure that this was the right place, though, and they continued on further, between the half-mounds, of which there were four spaced facing completely separate directions in a uniformed square pattern.

It was just after passing the furthest mound that Faulklin spied it, a shape just around the bend of the cliff. He could make out the features of its head sitting up and body laying against the ground like some sort of resting deer, and was thankful that the creature was comparatively smaller than the last two.

"At least it isn't quite so big."

"Just don't get cocky," Daijoudan cautioned. "Size doesn't mean anything."

Faulklin snorted. "Take your own advice." The brunette knocked an arrow and let it fly from a distance, but the Colossus didn't budge, as if sleeping. Faulklin waited, remembering how he had assumed as much with the last one, but it didn't stir at all and its eyes remained unlit, black pits. "I guess I'm going to have to get closer before it'll even recognize me," he sighed, flicking Rebel's reigns.

Just as he thought, as soon as he drew near, suddenly its eyes glowed blue and it seemed to awaken, dragging its front legs out from under it to haul itself to full height on sharp, spike-like legs.

_Well, I got its attention now_.

Faulklin turned and signaled Rebel into a gallop away from it, the likewise horse-like Colossus lumbering after him at a considerably slow enough pace that he didn't have to worry too much, slowing next to Daijoudan as he tried to devise how he was going to tackle this one, raising his sword by the light. Once again, he was assured that one was atop the Colossus' head, and from the way the light angled, either on its back or shoulder, maybe even both shoulders.

The trick now was how he was going to get on top of it. This one didn't have any fur spots located within range, so he would have to find another way.

He didn't get more time to ponder as it came closer and they ran out of its path and into the trees, circling through the shadows of them and coming out on the far side, the Colossus skimming the edge of them to follow. What caught Faulklin's eye most were the stone danglies on the Colossus' head, like a string of stone beads. If he could grab onto them, perhaps he could climb straight up to its head.

He would need to get it to lower itself towards the ground though to reach them.

Then he remembered the mounds with doorways in them. If he went inside one, maybe it would stick its head down to find him again. He could use that moment to run back out and grab on.

"I think I have a plan, but first you need to get out of sight. Then when I get up onto the Colossus, distract it," he ordered Daijoudan, who frowned unpleasantly but didn't argue, steering his black-and-silver mare away into the shadow of the trees.

Faulklin rode past it towards the ravine and waited for the Colossus to come closer, pulling Rebel to a full stop until it was almost upon him and the animal, then kicked Rebel into a sprint around its legs, leaping off as they neared one of the tunnels. He nocked another arrow and fired it at the beast, waiting for it to turn and see him, and then disappeared into the darkness of the cave, satisfied to find that it went a fair distance deep and connected to the other tunnels in a small network.

He could still hear the crash of its sharp legs creating divots in the earth as it came closer, what light was pouring in starting to fade, up until he saw the danglies come into view as the Colossus lowered its head to peer in. Faulklin silently declared victory and went to run back out of the tunnel and grab onto them, but skidded to an abrupt halt as the Colossus' pillar of a leg appeared and jabbed inside. He cursed foully and threw himself further into the tunnel, instinctively flattening himself to the ground and feeling the very tip of the Colossus' stone leg just barely skim over his back and crash into the stone wall within, sending down a shower of dirt.

Somewhere he could hear the bray of a horse, and above him stone was splitting, chunks raining down on top of him as the leg crashed inside again, somewhere off to the other side now, clawing and trying to crush him. Then there was a whistling noise and the leg disappeared, dust choking the air too much to see almost anything at all.

Faulklin sucked in a few hard breaths and began to move, even as the Colossus' steps rattled directly above as it went to chase what was probably Daijoudan trying to save his scrawny ass. It took a great deal of effort to get back to his feet from beneath the rubble that had chunked off of the wall, leaving his back battered and aching, but there was nothing to be done about it now save for take a quick breather and continue with his task.

He could tell just by the noise and vibrations that the Colossus was away from this entrance and poked his head out, just to be sure, before walking back into the open and to the edge of the half-mound to see where the Colossus had gone.

Its back was to him now as it stomped in a circle over one of the mounds, as if searching or perhaps trying to crush something underneath it, then stood at the top of the mound, stabbing at the ground over and over in front of the other entrance. Maybe it had gotten Daijoudan, but somehow Faulklin doubted it.

Finally it splayed its legs out in all directions and lowered itself down to see into the hole, turning its head almost upside down, and leaving it blind to see anywhere else.

This was his chance.

He sprinted out of hiding and across the field, hoping as he did so that it would be distracted long enough for him to cross all that distance without being spotted. He wasn't sure whether or not the creatures had a learning curve, but he really didn't want to find out, because if they did, that could end in a very premature death.

Not that he truly believed he could pull off defeating all sixteen of these monsters, but he was going to try for as long as he could until he found his end. He was at least going to _try_.

It was only when he was within a yard or two of the Colossus that it finally noticed him, probably hearing his steps and hard breathing, and turned so that his face came almost into contact with its glassy blue eye, rising quickly. But not quickly enough, Faulklin managing to reach the hanging string of stone beads before they could rise from his reach.

As it rose, it snapped its head up, the beads and Faulklin flipping into the air and sending him soaring a good few feet, crashing back down onto the crown rim of its stone-chiseled head and knocking the wind out of him, but he managed to hold on long enough to clamor over the edge and collapse into its fur as he tried to regain himself. Where he lay, a faint sigil began to glow to life, his sword likewise beginning to shine.

Just as he was drawing the sword from sheathe, it threw its head back and landed him in an undignified heap on its back, the teen ending up with a mouthful of coarse fur of which the only bath it had probably ever seen was the rain, of which had done nothing but further helped whatever foul organisms dwelled on it.

Spitting distastefully, he glanced off the beast's side and noted Daijoudan finding his horse and mounting to ride, before he was distracted himself by the Colossus shaking its entire body back and forth vigorously like a dog trying to shake off water. It was all he could do to hold on tightly and wait for it to cease, trying not to get flung or flipped straight off. A meeting with the dirt from this high up was beyond unappealing.

When it stopped, he swung his bow and quiver off, holding it ready to toss.

"Hey!" Daijoudan's head snapped up at his words, but there was no need to say anything else, the man riding closer until he was alongside the Colossus and just pausing long enough beside it to catch the arrows and bow, then dash away as the Colossus tried to turn for him and stomp one of its legs down into the soil and miss him.

Turning his attention away and trusting that Daijoudan wasn't likely to let himself get killed, he ran across the Colossus' back and tried to figure out where the other glyph not on its head was, the Colossus turning its head to look at him. He felt it bunch beneath his feet and crouched down to grasp a fistful of fur as it rose onto its hind legs, swiveling around as it did so and trying to crush the smaller horses and Daijoudan as it crashed back down onto its front legs, rattling the earth and the boy on its back, just enough to wind him for a moment.

He leapt down onto one of the shoulders and a glyph glowed to life in the presence of the blade, Faulklin raising his sword to plunge into the Colossus' shoulder and earn a squeal of pain front it, the startled monstrosity staggering to one side and catching itself before it could fall. It shook itself and turned to glare red eyes at the offending petite on its shoulder, but an arrow quickly distracted it, bouncing off its stone face and making the Colossus jolt in surprise.

After three good stabs, the glyph disappeared, the Colossus switching its attention between the boy on its shoulder and man riding horseback firing arrows at it in obvious frustration, not sure which one of them to deal with first.

It turned and picked up its pace into a long-strided walk towards one of the stone walls, swiveling so that it could slam its side up against the rock wall and grind its shoulder as if trying to reach a pesky itch, but Faulklin was already off that shoulder and rolled down to the other one, stabbing the second glyph. The Colossus squealed again, bemoaning its irritation and pushed away from the wall.

It reared again and forced the small figure to hold on tightly, turning and its large head almost scraping the rock roof partially above the glade, a veil of hanging lichen and vines swinging as its head brushed through them.

Once he regained his footing, another deep jab to the shoulder sent the Colossus stumbling slightly. The third jab made it jolt and stumble sideways, nearly smashing Faulklin into the rock in a second attempt, but it missed its chance, if only just barely, as he climbed just high enough to avoid such an outcome.

It was at this point that Faulklin went for a glowing crack at the base of the Colossus' neck, stabbing into it and making the entire beast spasm with a shrill screech, at the same moment that Daijoudan rode by and fired another volley of arrows at it to divert its attention. Shaking its head angrily, it bunched itself up and rear, and Faulklin stabbed the fissure in its neck again, another spasm traveling through the beast as it came crashing down and landed ungracefully, one spiked leg breaking through the earth bordering the glade's ravine and sending it stumbling forward, its chin striking the other side hard and sending vibrations through Faulklin's bones as he held on tightly to keep from catching air.

The boy recovered faster than the Colossus did and ran down the length of its neck to its head where the last of the glyphs glowed brightly, beckoning for the blade to sheath within its center.

Falling to his knees, Faulklin hoisted the blade above his head and struck down with all of his might, the Colossus screaming and writhing as it tried to find its footing again, clawing open air beneath it instead. With the third stab, it found the side of the cliff and planted its dangling leg there, readjusting its footing on the other three and trying to rise out of the hole.

Two more stabs and it began to rise back up, trying to claw backward onto solid ground, but its single-digit foot slipped and it only fell further, becoming wedged between the two cliffs and flailing its legs against the earth with an alarmed bellow.

"Oi!" Faulklin didn't bother looking back, intent on finishing off the Colossus, and more than happy for how things had played out to make this a much easier kill than it would have been otherwise and more than he imagined any Colossus battle after this one being. "Move your ass out of there, before you fall and get crushed!"

Faulklin only scoffed and drove the blade down again, the battling giant losing fight and signaling that it was almost finished, and he had no intention of letting this fight become more difficult when he had the opportunity for such a quick, easy kill.

The Colossus tried to push itself up and out of the hole again, but the blade finally took what life it had left in it and it slipped further down abruptly, the entire beast going limp and slipping entirely over the side now and crashing to the bottom of the ravine with an echoing crash, Faulklin holding on tightly to its fur and the sword lodged within it until it finally stopped at the bottom.

Dust filled the air as chunks of dirt and rock rained down from the cliff walls above where the Colossus slid down, though thankfully nothing large enough to worry over becoming a legitimate threat to his life. Finally a few stray clatters of settling soil was all that sounded in the following silence and shadows began to cloak the Colossus' corpse.

"You'd better hope you're faster than those damn tendrils at climbing, because I am _not _hauling your idiot self out of there, no matter how tiny you are!"

Faulklin coughed on the dust in the air as he dislodged his blade and sheathed it, glancing about the space, which, thankfully, at least looked as though it had some navigable pathways up its side.

"Fine, then don't!" Faulklin snapped back, leaping down off the dead Colossus to the ground a few feet down and running up the path. Sadly, he wasn't quite quick enough to outrun the tendrils, and he only remained conscious long enough to hear Daijoudan curse profanely from above in annoyance.


	8. The Raptor aloft the Heavens

**What I Wouldn't Sacrifice  
>A Shadow of the Colossus Fanfiction<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>"Thy next foe is... It casts a colossal shadow across a misty lake... as it soars through the sky... To reach it is no easy task."<strong>

* * *

><p>"I can't even begin to put to words how much I hate water," Faulklin growled under his breath, scowling as though the heat of his glare would make every last drop of it evaporate away.<p>

The ride there, only slightly north of their last battle and a little further east, hadn't been terribly unpleasant at all, but at the words 'lake', Faulklin couldn't help but dread this fight the entire run there. After passing between the cliffs to find the half-crumbled ruins of what was probably their next battle stage, his fears were truly realized as he found that not only was there water he would have to cross to reach it first, but the entire territory of this Colossus truly was a lake, and with no discernible way to bypass _all that fucking water!_

Even climbing up onto a higher part of the stone shore, he could see that it wasn't merely a moat, like the area surrounding the third one's arena, but that there was a great deal of water beyond that as well, submerging most of the structures that once stood there, probably above water centuries before, now only a shadow of its former glory.

"Giving up?" Daijoudan wondered aloud, arms crossed over his chest as he stared out over the lake as well in scrutiny.

"Of course not," Faulklin scoffed, Khu shuffling comfortably on his shoulder, glossy black feathers tickling the male's nape.

"Going to ask for my help?"

"Not even in your dreams," Faulklin snorted. Daijoudan raised a brow at him.

"Going to drown yourself trying again, then?"

"Are you going to be disappointed if I tell you 'no'?"

"And surprised that that one brain cell you have left is actually managing to win dominance for once."

Faulklin glared at him. "Keep it up and the only dominance you'll be fighting for is air as I hold your head underwater."

Daijoudan only snorted at the empty threat. Empty not because he doubted Faulklin would try, but more because he would be hard-pressed to overpower the other in order to succeed at it.

"You must have some broad delusions of adequacy if you think that's going to happen."

"Says the guy whose brain waves fall short of the beach."

"Says the guy whose brain is smaller than his lips and whose mouth is too big for his muzzle," Daijoudan retorted. "Now close it and figure out what we're going to do about this. Otherwise I have better things to do than stand around listening to you be useless."

Faulklin's eye wandered the stone structures in lip-pursed silence as he did just that, trying to figure out how he was going to get past and deal with the water, because he certainly as Hell wasn't going to ask Daijoudan to carry him, he didn't imagine he would be able to teach himself in such a short span of time, and going back at this point simply wasn't an option. Not as far as he was concerned, at least.

His gaze wandered the wall and arches of the stone ruin to the cliff, and then scrutinized the natural stone itself where there were occasional ledges and plans sprouting along it.

"I bet I could climb to those structures," he decided at last, walking alongside the shallows toward it and picking out where on the cliff he could climb and get across without breaking his neck, mentally planning his route already. It looked doable, at least for him. Daijoudan could figure out his own plans on how to reach the other side, whether he swam or whatever else.

Or he could just stay behind, but Faulklin, for one reason or another, doubted that he would.

Really, he still had no idea why the man had even bothered to come along. Other than playing as a distraction, he was damn useless, and the boy couldn't quite place his finger on what sort of personal reasons the guy had for coming, either.

It didn't matter, though. Either way, Faulklin really didn't give two shits why Daijoudan was there, and though he refused to admit it, he _had_ come in more handy once or twice rather than been a hindrance or a liability. He could have been stuck with worse. He could have been stuck with better though, too.

Finding his path up the stone, he climbed up it with relative ease until he reached a ledge where grass and a small tree overhung the water, picking his way across carefully. He knew Daijoudan wasn't climbing after him, nor that the man would be able to the way he could, but he wasn't sure if the other stayed on the shore or swam either.

It took much more time and effort than may have been necessary compared to simply asking that the other man help him swim across, and his limbs were tired by the time he managed to reach the human-made structure, almost having slipped and fallen into the water several yards below more than once, but at last, he made it and ran across the structure of the arch on the left side, leaping across the gaps from where part of it crumbled, to the pillars, and then onto the bridge pathway beyond that where Daijoudan waited with hair and clothes still wet from his short swim.

"What dragged you under and tried to drown you?" Faulklin snorted in mockery of the man's dripping appearance.

"How'd you like to be next?" Daijoudan shot back, rolling his eyes. Faulklin only shrugged and continued on up the steps to the structure overlooking the lake, just as he heard the long, loud whoosh of gigantic wings and a massive shadow flickered over them, making Faulklin tense and hang back under the doorway as he watched the beast soar overhead and the crow on his shoulder startle and tense up readily to fly away in alarm.

It was a bird of mammoth proportion. In body, it was the smallest Colossus they had seen thus far, but the length of its wings and tail made up the difference. Both could hear the wind whistle around its form like the roar of a jet as it flew, each one of its wing-beats creating an audible gust to give it lift.

Fur covered most of its top half, while the bottom of its body was hairless, an intricate network of carved ribs against the flat of its wings and stone legs with grinding joints as its claws splayed for purchase on a pillar it circled around to land on. On its stone head arched a row of spines, like a crest of feathers on a cockatoo, though it more resembled an eagle than anything.

From its pillar, which audibly crunched beneath the weight of the Colossus, yet still held, it let its wings rest at its sides as it turned to face them, blue eyes piercing the distance to watch them, but it didn't attack nor seem to hold any interest in coming closer, waiting on the far side of the lake, almost as if unknowingly taunting the brunette who couldn't swim to go after it. Its long tail hung down behind it with such great length that the end tip almost touched the water, even though the tower it sat upon was even taller than the first Colossus, the Minotaur, had been.

"So, any bright ideas on how you're going to do this?"

"I'm thinking on it," Faulklin grumbled, subconsciously reaching a hand up to scratch behind Khu's head and calm the nervous crow. He stepped out further onto the balcony and surveyed the lake, but every structure he could potentially get on top of was much further out, and there was still the problem of him drowning if he jumped down into the water. He still had no intention whatsoever of asking Daijoudan to assist him in swimming, so he had to find another way. If he could get it to come in close, he might be able to do something... from this distance though, an arrow wouldn't reach, and he wasn't sure that would be enough to even draw its attention anyway. And besides, there were spiked fence bars that would be hard to climb over without falling or getting himself skewered on.

It was at this point that his eye traveled up further, not forward, but above and behind him at the structure they stood on. There was an upper level, a tower of sorts, that was weathered away and crumbling but still in-tact. A partial circle suggested some sort of long-forgotten steeple. If he could climb up there and draw its attention, maybe he could avoid the water altogether.

Drawing its attention was going to be the trick though, and the only way he was going to do that, as far as he could tell, was if he got closer first.

Or at least that _one_ of them did.

"I think I know a way," he said finally. "But... it's going to require you to do something for me."

"And what would that be?" Daijoudan questioned neutrally.

"I just need you to lure it out somehow. If I can climb up there," he directed above, Daijoudan's eyes following his movements. "-and either get it to land or get it to fly close, then I could jump onto it without having to go into the water and swim... or rather, try and fail to swim."

"And how do you expect me to get its attention to up there?" Daijoudan demanded.

"You don't have to, just get it in the air," Faulklin stated, before stopping as though something occurred to him and pinching the bridge of his nose with a sigh. "Except... I only have the one bow, and that's our best chance of getting its attention. If you're using it to draw the Colossus' attention, then I'll have to find another way."

Daijoudan hummed indecision. "And what about its weak points? Do you know where those are?"

Faulklin glanced up as if he had forgotten and drew the blade from its scabbard, but when he held it up to point to the weak spots, the glow was inefficiently weak in the shadows and the Colossus too far away to get an accurate pin-point on where they were.

"No, but we're just going to have to deal with that bridge when we come to it. First order of business is to get onto the Colossus itself."

Daijoudan merely nodded unhappily and took the bow and quiver of arrows offered to him, standing at the edge of the platform where it was crumbled away so that he could jump down to the water.

"Just make sure you figure out something useful, half-ass. I don't like my time being wasted."

Faulklin snorted. "And what do you have to do with your time that's so important? Obviously not running your country since you're here with me."

Daijoudan gave him a dirty look but said nothing, jumping down to the water below while Faulklin looked for a way to climb up higher. The drop felt a little too long as he fell but the silver-haired man quelled any primal sense of fear that accompanied the pull of gravity, sucking in a breath just before he finally hit the water and closing his eyes.

Liquid cold formed around every inch of his being like an ever-shifting mold and lifted his hair up away from his face as he sunk several feet, his ears flooding first with a loud smack as he pierced the surface, followed closely by the low rumble of waves and invisible current mixing and churning against each other slowly and of bubbles fluttering toward the freedom of open air.

He kicked his legs and surfaced, sucking in a breath, and then another, flicking water out of his face as he blinked his eyes open. The Colossus still had yet to move, only watching him from afar. Hopefully it would stay that way long enough for him to reach solid ground, as he didn't enjoy the thought of being scooped out of the water in its talons like some common, helpless fish dinner.

Taking a breath, he dove just under the surface and began to swim for the stone structures that sat within the lake, making up the distance within the span of a few minutes and heaving himself onto the platform of an almost-submerged pillar, glancing up at the great bird as he drew an arrow from the quiver Faulklin had given him and notching it.

He wondered just before he let it fly if this would even register on the behemoth, or if it would only care for Faulklin as most seemed to, but fired none the less.

The arrow bounced off its face and spun down to the water anti-climactically, but the Colossus let out a shriek of annoyance and raised its wings to lift into the air after all, dropping forward into a swoop. At least he didn't have to drag Faulklin down here with him to get it to act.

He braced himself as he watched it swoop straight down at him and let out a shriek, splaying stone talons forward, though it was off-center from actually grabbing him. Instead, he watched as a thick wall of wing quickly closed the distance, ready to slam against him with the full force of all fifteen-tons of the beasts weight, an impact that would surely kill him instantly.

He dove to the side and disappeared into the water just before it passed over him with no time to spare, its tailwind buffeting him even from underneath the water and pulling a small wave in its wake. He surfaced again and swam back to the stone as he heard its wings flapping behind him in slow but powerful beats, slowing its direction and swiveling back to face him as he climbed back onto the stone platform.

He cursed as it dove again with an angry screech, and he was forced to dive back into the water, spinning under the surface to look straight up and watch as it zoomed by with startling speed and force, its long tail scraping against the stone platform, but it vanished from reach before he could climb out and potentially jump onto its tail.

As he was watching it, he noticed the fur on its wings where they made an unnatural wall at the base. If he could grab onto it, then perhaps he could climb up, but that would require letting it _hit_ him going full tilt, and he didn't dare assume he would survive such a force impacting his body. Faulklin might have been dumb enough to try it, but he certainly wasn't.

As it dove at him again, he leapt onto the far one of the three stone platforms and flattened himself down so that its wing-tip barely passed over him, leaping to his feet as quick as was humanly possible, maybe even more so, and sprinting to leap across the stones, throwing himself onto the very last foot of its tail just before it took off into the sky again.

He scrambled up a few more feet with the help of several handfuls of fluffy fur as the wind itself alone threatened to throw him backwards, and only now was he learning to appreciate the speed of which this gargantuan bird could soar, the force of the moving air alone choking up his nose and mouth and making it nearly impossible to draw adequate breath, instead forcing him to take quick, short gasps.

The Eagle banked sharply to one said and he almost fell, his grip not as tight as he had originally thought and the man unable to help but cast a glance over his shoulder at the lake and stone structures below, feeling like his stomach was doing involuntary flips. Finally it leveled out, only to flap its wings and climb higher. Seeing the beast flying through the air earlier wasn't quite the same as being on it and the other thing that Daijoudan quickly came to both appreciate and lament was exactly how high they were climbing.

Drawing in several hard breaths and feeling as though his airways would burst, he began a long, slow climb up the great length of its tail, thanking the Gods that it was one long, flat strip rather than various ledges and uneven surfaces or stone structures that would be impossible to pass over while also battling with the wind itself to stay grounded.

It swooped downward, picking up speed, and then soared high into the air, making Daijoudan notably queasy, but he held on and flattened himself against it to reduce wind-drag that tried to swirl under him and lift it straight off the Colossus' back/tail.

The stone structure that walled in the lake passed by and he glanced to the side, briefly glancing Faulklin as the youth braced himself for the incoming gust of tail-wind and watched Daijoudan with a wide-eyed, yet calculative look.

Soon enough it left the smaller brunette-blond behind without coming anywhere even remotely close to the tower though. They were going to need to figure something out, before this altitude sickness made it impossible for him to either think or hold on.

Arrows would only be a minor nuisance to it, but they seemed to notice it at least. What of one of his swords? Would they damage it, or was only Faulklin's sword capable of causing it significant injury? It was at that moment he was wishing he had asked Faulklin to just give him the damn blade and then _he_ could have done it, but it was too late now.

Drawing his silver blade from its scabbard, he drive it down into the Colossus' tail experimentally and heard it screech, but it was more a sound of minor irritation than true damage. Perhaps only because it wasn't one of the weak points, but how was he supposed to find them?

At the very least, the Colossus seemed to change course slightly thanks to his blow. Perhaps he could use that to his advantage. It was finding its way back towards the steeple as it arched around the path of the circular mountain walls, so now was his best chance to do it.

Sheathing his sword again as the beast swooped and soared through the air, not even having slowed, he took the bow off his back and started to set an arrow, but he already knew he wouldn't be able to free the other hand, instead pulling the string and feathered end back between his teeth. It was crude, but he didn't have much choice. Making sure his lips and tongue wouldn't be in the way of the string when he released the pressure, he let it go and the arrow whizzed forward, slightly off-course, but planted solidly into its shoulder on the left side, the bird shrieking and flapping to the side away from it.

Its course took it closer than ever to the ruined tower of the steeple, and it just now seemed to notice where its path was leading it, adjusting its direction with a sharp tilt to one side. Daijoudan could see Faulklin crouched precariously on the highest reachable point, bunched and ready to leap as the Colossus came closer and closer. Even over the roaring wind and the bird's calls, he could almost feel the kid's blood hammering hard in his chest with the knowledge that if he didn't get this _exactly_ right the first time, there was going to be no chance for a second attempt.

Just before the bird passed by, he threw himself forward, blade already drawn and meeting the far end of the Colossus' outstretched wings as it blasted by, driving his blade down into the fur there to keep from being blown away as it kept going.

As it just so happened, that was where one of the glyphs was located, and the avian unleashed a deafening shriek of agony, tilting even further to the side and falling into a downward roll until it was fully upside-down, forcing both males to hold on for all their worth or fall a good hundred feet to what might be their deaths if they couldn't hold out. It held like that for a moment, descending towards the lake, before rolling fully back to right-side-up and beat its wings to regain the altitude it had lost, almost throwing Faulklin in the process, but the boy held on stubbornly until it fell back into a still glide.

When Faulklin was sure he wouldn't be thrown, he pulled the blade free and punctured it through, earning another scream from the beast and a full barrel roll through the sky. When it began to level out, tilting to the side sharply, Faulklin let go and tumbled down the slope of its wing until he hit the row of spikes across the center of its back, grasping the fur there to stay on top of it.

Daijoudan soon joined him, having been steadily working his way there from the tail end.

"I bet the other glyph is on the other wing as well," Faulklin panted, flattening himself down into the fur and turning his face away from the wind so he could breathe and talk proper.

"So go and finish it," Daijoudan scoffed, having to pause mid-way as his throat involuntarily seized against the wind.

"You're kidding, right?" Faulklin gaped, his brows raising so high they almost disappeared into his hairline. "Do you have even the slightest fucking clue how powerful a bird's wings have to be to give it lift? Much less one the size of a god damn building? And even IF I could swim, hitting the water from this high up would be like landing on solid stone. It would probably kill us _both_."

Daijoudan huffed. No, he didn't know much of anything about birds, other than the basics of what everyone else knew. He was aware that they were built light in the bones, but that didn't really apply the same way with a beast made of stone. It had to be startlingly heavy for something able to fly, which meant it really must have some pretty strong, capable wings. When he thought about it, Faulklin was actually right. It wasn't going to be as easy as _'just run over and stab it'_. As much as he taunted Faulklin's intelligence, there were some things that the teen knew probably better than he did, even with all of the education he had received throughout his life.

"So how are we going to do this?" Because they might not get another chance if they fell, and there was still the problem that Faulklin couldn't swim. Once the bird's other wing was struck, and the glyph finished, it would probably fall from the sky.

"I don't know," Faulklin admitted vehemently, his single eye darting in thought, trying to form a plan and failing. Daijoudan's eyes wandered as they soared over the stone structures.

"I think I do," he spoke, managing to earn Faulklin's undivided attention. "If we time it right, we might be able to get it to land on one of those stone structures, or we could leap off when we get close, before we can hit the water."

"You know we're likely to get maimed in the landing, right?" Faulklin pointed out.

"I think we can manage," Daijoudan muttered. "But it's going to take some coordination and perfect timing."

Faulklin licked his lips in thought, then nodded. What other choice did they have? It was either finish off the Colossus here and now, or go back. And he refused to go back until he had finished what he'd started.

It was a shame that one of the Colossus he was having to slay was a giant bird. He rather liked and envied birds. Under different circumstances, he would have liked to attempt coexisting with such a magnificent beast as this one, were it possible. Probably not, but he could always dream on it, and few could brag that they had truly _flown_ through the open air like he was doing now, even if it was hitching a ride on an unwilling host.

Steadying his nerves as best he could, he stood as the bird leveled off, neither tilted nor flapping its wings to gain height, and sprinted for its wingtip, throwing himself down as a gust almost carried him away. He raised his sword and stabbed it into the wing once and braced himself with a tight hold, one on the fur, the other still holding the blade handle that ran through its wing, as it rolled through the air again, making the world spin dizzyingly.

He was breathing too hard and fast when it finally straightened again and he thought he might pass out, but he stubbornly clung on and stabbed the glyph a second time, so that it disappeared, making it spin once more.

He expected it to fall to earth now that both glyphs on its wings were gone, but it stayed aloft, once again flapping to ascend higher. Faulklin held on with waning strength and just tried to fight off a wave of nauseous unconsciousness that threatened to crush down on him, struggling to take in adequate air, and the motion of the wings flicking up and down just making it harder to keep his shaky grasp on awareness.

He needed to get back to the center, before he was flung skyward only to come crashing back down.

When its wings stilled, he stood on shaky legs and tried to run back, but it started to flap again and he lost his balance, his heart jumping into his throat as he fell forward and was pushed back by the wind, the solid surface of the Colossus disappearing from underneath him and sending him tumbling. He fully expected the water or a stone structure to come rushing up to meet him, and then everything after that would go black, but instead something latched onto his wrist and he cried out as his shoulder popped out of socket, momentarily making his eye roll back into his head in disorientation and pain.

When he finally managed the will and energy to look up, it was at Daijoudan's strained face as he barely managed to hang over the edge, the other arm hidden where it gripped the fur of the Colossus' tail base. Twice now that made where the man had kept him from falling to his doom, but this time, Faulklin wasn't complaining.

"Sheathe your sword and try to climb up!" Daijoudan ordered harshly, not looking quite as bad as Faulklin felt, but still disheveled and beyond unhappy with their predicament.

Faulklin only nodded and struggled against the wind to slide his sword back into its scabbard as Daijoudan started to pull him up. Faulklin hissed at the pain of his dislocated shoulder but didn't voice that it was ailing him, instead scrambling to find purchase somewhere on the Colossus' tail so he could climb back up. Daijoudan grasped the back of his shirt once he had a hand securely woven into its fur and pulled him up the rest of the way where they could both collapse, the larger man's chest pressing against his shoulders at an angle and keeping him pinned so he wouldn't be blown away.

"I felt your shoulder pop when I caught you. Is it dislocated?"

"Yeah," Faulklin gasped, not having the energy or composure at the moment to do anything except lay there and count the stars that he hadn't fallen into the lake.

He managed to gulp down some more air before glancing up and ahead at the body of the bird as it continued to soar, swooping down harshly and pulling up to skim the water as if trying to build up enough speed to knock them clear off its back, forcing both of them to cling tightly to its fluff.

"But there isn't anything we can do about it here." Resetting a joint took a lot of careful maneuvering and physical coordination, and they had no such luxury aboard this monstrosity's back. "There's one more glyph we need to hit." At _least_ one more. "Let's just finish this, and we can worry about it afterwards."

Daijoudan nodded his agreement and pushed himself up so that Faulklin could move. The boy had already found the glyphs on its wings, and none had appeared on its back, so by process of elimination, it had to be further down the tail. Once they were sure it was safe to stand and move, they ran down the length of its tail until they reached the end, where the last sigil appeared, and they knelt down there in preparation.

"Ready?"

Faulklin nodded as he unsheathed his sword with his working arm, Daijoudan keeping a steadying hand around his waist since he lacked the other to hold on with, and plunged the blade down.

The Colossus screeched angrily and picked up speed, tilting sharply and turning almost fully around, so that its tail snapped back harshly and almost threw them, but Daijoudan only held on with both hands tightly, Faulklin partially tucked against his chest so as not to be blown back.

He wedged the blade free and stabbed it down, again, and again, earning more agonized keens from the beast. It swooped down, using gravity to almost through them off despite Daijoudan's firm grasp, and then angled sharply up, flying almost a full ninety degrees straight at the sky above and ascending towards the heavens with great rapidity. If they fell from such a height as they were reaching, they would probably fall unconscious in the fall before they even hit the water, and when they hit, they would likely die.

"Finish it!" Daijoudan barked, exhaustion seeping through his bones and tight fingers, a black fountain of blood erupting upward and pelting Faulklin's chest and both of their faces, momentarily blinding the boy. He raised his arm to wipe it away from his eyes before going back to stabbing it several times as they climbed higher and higher, making him both sick and frightened of the fall they were going to have to endure. Finally, one last plunge was signaled by the light disappearing, and the form of the bird jerked abruptly as it stopped flapping, hanging in the air for a moment.

Then it began to fall, both of them holding on for dear life as it descended towards earth and the lake. With the force that it was falling towards the water, there might not be much left of them once they hit.

"We're going to have to jump off the end of its tail near the bottom!"

"Are you insane?!" Faulklin screeched, panic evident in his voice, knowing just how slim their chances were.

"When its body hits the water, it'll slow down somewhat. Jump off right then and we should be fine!"

Faulklin nodded, but his body trembled with uncertainty, trying to simply breathe properly and remain conscious long enough to do so as the descent tugged black spots at the edge of his vision. The lake quickly rushed up to meet them as black cloaked the bird's form mid-fall and one of the structures was close enough to leap onto.

"Now!" Daijoudan ordered, standing up and leaping for the ledge, barely catching it and rolling as he hit. Faulklin moved to leap as well, but the black tendrils that escaped the body of the Colossus caught him mid-step and he faltered in mid-leap, tumbling through the air and hitting the water. Daijoudan heard the splash before he saw and ran back to the edge, cursing as he watched the boy sink beneath the surface and disappear.

Drawing in an exhaustion-shaky breath, he dove off the top and into the water, the impact hurting his chest, but he kept going, managing to reach Faulklin before the depths could swallow him whole. When they surfaced, the boy sputtered water from his mouth, still breathing, but even that wasn't enough to bring him back to consciousness.

The man sighed in exasperation as he paddled toward one of the platforms near the surface of the lake, which glittered with larger waves than it had probably seen in decades in the aftermath of the Colossus' crash. Most unusual was that even as the monster's fur crumbled away and it solidified into solid stone, it still floated on the surface of the water buoyantly. Daijoudan had no such way to explain how it was possible, but he didn't bother dwelling on it. Instead he only heaved an annoyed sigh.

Now he was going to have to find a way to swim back with the kid and figure out how they were going to climb out of this lake past the wall.


	9. The Hermit beneath the Mountain

**What I Wouldn't Sacrifice  
>A Shadow of the Colossus Fanfiction<strong>

* * *

><p>When Faulklin stirred from the black pits of unconsciousness once more, this time it wasn't laying flat on the ground of the large Shrine where the statues of the Colossi sat vigil, but rather to the rolling gait of Rebel's back as the stallion travelled at an even canter. One arm rested across the horse's shoulders and the other - the one that hadn't been dislocated in the fight - instinctively wove into long hair as his face rested against the bridge of its neck.<p>

He could hear the crash of water, some distance, but still close. The faint whiff of salt twinge his nose. He flicked his single eye open just as they emerged from the shadow of the cliff, closing it again when the harsh light of the sun assaulted it. He sat up, blinking his eye open against the bright light.

Dormin's shrine was within easy distance, Daijoudan's mare in the lead and leading Rebel along by the end of the reigns, held in Daijoudan's hand.

Faulklin sat up further and noted that his arm wasn't limp as it should have been, his uninjured hand reaching up to probe his shoulder gingerly, but it was already set back in its socket while he had been unconscious. No mystery as to who had done so.

Why did he wake up here and not back in the Shrine? Daijoudan must have been taking his sweet time to return.

"You awake?"

"Yeah," he sighed in return. Daijoudan said nothing more to him as they pressed onward back towards the Shrine, Khu flying just above them the entire way until their horses trotted up the steps back inside, the clack of hooves echoing off the walls as they pulled to a halt within. Khu landed on Faulklin's shoulder as the boy slid down from Rebel's saddle and walked up the steps of the Shrine to where Komeko lay on the alter, five white doves startling from where they sat around it and flying out into the open air. Daijoudan's gaze lingered on them in suspicion as they disappeared between the pillars, but he said nothing.

Faulklin's own eye was fixated on Komeko too much to notice, surveying her pale features, but nothing seemed to have changed. He traced a finger over her face, down her neck, and he thought he felt a small hint of warmth there where it should have been cold as ice by now and his eye widened ever so slightly. He hovered a hand over her nose and lips, waiting almost expectantly to feel a soft breath on his skin, but there was nothing.

It was too bold of a hope. They had only slain five of the Colossi at this point. There were still another eleven to go. Dormin would not grant his wish until he held up his part of the bargain, and he knew as much, but there was a faint sign of life, at least, to reassure him that the beings' promise was not an empty one.

The horses stirred nervously behind them as a ringing filled his ears and Faulklin turned, one of the statues becoming engulfed in light, and then imploding in on itself and crumbling within its small alcove. A harsh murmur in the air and a presence Faulklin was quickly becoming familiarized with filled every inch of air.

**_"Thy next foe is... A giant lurks underneath the temple... It lusts for destruction... but a fool, it is not."_**

Faulklin didn't even wait for the presence to fully fade before he was upon Rebel's back again, flicking the reigns back around the horse's neck and readying to ride. Daijoudan walked down the steps briskly as well.

"Hold on."

"I'm not stopping," Faulklin snapped.

"I didn't tell you to," Daijoudan rebuked harshly, giving the mouthy brat a glare as he went to his horse and retrieved something, tossing it to the kid. "Here." Faulklin caught it and raised a brow in confusion. "It's fruit." There had been a tree near the far cliff just outside the 5th Colossus' territory absolutely overflowing with it. He himself had eaten here or there in small amounts since they'd arrived, but he knew Faulklin hadn't. He'd meant to convince the boy they needed to find food and eat sooner, but the brunette had been in such a rush to run toward the Colossus and his possible death that Daijoudan hadn't had the chance.

The man was expecting some kind of argument, but instead all he got was silence as the brunette bit into it and flicked Rebel's reigns. He also didn't expect a thanks, nor did he get one, but the brief glance of begrudging gratitude that flickered across the boy's face was enough to satisfy him.

When they exited the Shrine once more, they both noticed something they had been too preoccupied to see before, a narrow pillar of light that rose from the site of the first Colossus' - the Minotaur's - territory. When Daijoudan glanced to the left, there was another, and one beyond that where their most recent fight had probably been. The pillars rose up into the sky and the clouds where the beams touched swirled in a small, stationary funnel.

"Those must be the fallen Colossus."

"Valus," Faulklin hummed under his breath distractedly, catching Daijoudan off-guard. "And Pheadra and Avion."

"What?" Daijoudan couldn't help but raise his brows in confusion at the seemingly out-of-the-blue words, their meaning lost on him. Their was a look in Faulklin's eye for a flicker of a second, as if he wasn't all-there, before he shook it off like a dream.

"Those are their names."

"And how do you know that?"

Faulklin thought for a moment, and then he simply shrugged. "I just do."

"You _'just do'_?" Daijoudan repeated, narrowing his eyes at Faulklin in accusing scrutiny. Faulklin only returned him an annoyed glared, fully coming back into his default attitude, rather than that uncharacteristic, distant calm.

"Did I stutter? Y'know what, never mind. Don't think too hard on it, you might sprain something. Come to think of it, do you even have a brain to damage?"

"Why?" Daijoudan snorted. "Do you need a donation?"

"First you would need one to give," Faulklin retorted, unsheathing his sword and raising it to the light so that they could find their next Colossus to slay. It pointed southwest of where they were and he put the blade away, flicking the reigns. They rode across the field toward a cluster of trees just to the right side of the Minotaur - Valus' - cliff, branches poking over rock and signifying a forest beyond. There were also tall, narrow pillars, things Daijoudan thought might be tree trunks at first, but realized they were stone and man-made.

The grass as they reached a wide opening between the cliffs became longer and wilder here, some of it reaching as high as the knees of their horses. Sure enough, there was a forest just beyond, the branches soon blotting out all but the sparsest mottling splotches of light on a leaf-blanketed forest floor.

They slowed warily as the shadows overcame them and both listened and looked for any signs of a Colossus, but they saw none, and it seemed too dense with plant life to allow one to move about anyway. So they relaxed slightly as they walked.

Now, though, there was another problem: finding their way through the trees of this unfamiliar place.

They looked and listened, but even for a forest, this place was startlingly silent. No birds chirped their songs here and no animals either prey or predator seemed to stir, even from beneath the foliage of the leaves. It was unnaturally still and even the horses became nervous, noses audibly flaring for signs of some beast lying in wait to spring upon them, but there was nothing.

"Here," Daijoudan broke the silence, tossing another fruit to Faulklin for the boy to catch. "You need to keep up your strength." He eyed the younger male critically as he said this, as if trying to find some source of injury or see through any sort of mask that might be hiding exhaustion. "We should rest, too. These Colossus battles are only going to get harder the further we continue."

"I'm actually feeling pretty good," Faulklin shrugged as he bit into the fruit, shifting back comfortably in Rebel's saddle. Upon smelling the fruit, the stallion arched his head back and sniffed in want, the boy rolling his eyes and smirking as he gave what remained to the equine.

"Don't lie about it," Daijoudan warned.

"No, really," Faulklin stated honestly. "I do." He hadn't really been thinking about it before, but now that he did, he truly felt fine. He was still aching and sore, yes, but not as badly as he had been after the first few fights. He wouldn't quite say that he felt energetic, but he didn't feel as weary as he thought he would, either. Perhaps that should have made him stop and question a little bit more, but it didn't matter. He shrugged to himself again, dismissing it. "I hardly feel tired at all. Maybe even strong and rejuvenated."

He felt Daijoudan's eyes narrow on him once more. Faulklin was a stubborn person, but he was also still human, prone to the same weaknesses and fatigue as everyone else. Actually, Daijoudan had always known him to be a little on the short side when it came to long-term stamina. He was healthier and stronger than he had been when Daijoudan had first known him, when Mamoru had first taken him in and cared for the boy, but he was still considerably frail for a young man of his age, and rather negligent at taking proper care of himself when Mamoru didn't issue reminders or coax him into doing things he already should. Eating was one of them, which took its toll and showed in his too-thin frame.

Even Daijoudan was feeling the affects of their fights, starting to become more worn-down than he would like, and he was just as stubborn as the other male, physically stronger, and considerably better at taking care of his needs to make sure he was as effective in everything he did as humanly possible.

For Faulklin to say that he actually felt _rejuvenated_ after their struggles against five massive monsters most couldn't even fathom in their imaginations, something was wrong. Whether it was related or not, he immediately recalled those black, inky tendrils that had woven out of the slain Colossi's corpses and found new refuge inside the boy afterwards.

"It isn't natural for you to feel that way," the man warned, the tone of his voice entirely serious and foreboding. "Something is wrong if you truly, physically feel that way."

Faulklin glanced sideways at him in question, not seeming even the slightest bit concerned. He was someone that didn't seem to fathom the meaning of the word _caution_, but then, he didn't seem to fathom a lot of things.

"I don't see what the problem is."

"Just be careful," he advised. Daijoudan already knew the boy wasn't going to listen to his warnings, so he didn't know why he bothered, but he offered up the words anyway. "Whatever those _things_ are that took refuge in you after you killed the Colossi, there's no telling what they might be doing to you, or what this Dormin being is after. Don't let yourself be blinded by it. In all truth, you should probably give up this quest now, before something bad happens to you and it becomes too late to reverse it."

Faulklin merely shrugged again. "It doesn't matter." The same words he had given Dormin, and the same words he stuck by now. As far as he was concerned, it was meaningless. He almost wanted to laugh at the fact that Daijoudan was under the assumption his own life meant anything to him. "I'm still going to see it through, no matter what."

He nudged Rebel faster and left Daijoudan to shake his head with a grumble of exasperation before following.

They passed by a smaller shrine, same as one that they went past on the way to the 5th Colossus'... to _Avion_'s territory, but didn't stop there, instead heading towards a part in the trees where the light became visible again. Their horses splashed through a shallow pond, and they slowed as Faulklin noticed just ahead that the land dropped away below, too steep to travel. He glanced to the right where the trees thinned and he could see the gaping maw of a cave just beyond the light.

Their path took them over a short, naturally weathered bridge and Faulklin held his sword up to find out where the light would guide, but it only bounced off in all separate directions. He pulled his horse to a halt and angled the blade, trying to relocate the direction they would need to find, and saw as it pointed through a rock wall beyond the cave entrance.

They headed through it into the shadows, heading straight away from a bend in the cave, and the wind howled just ahead, signaling an open expanse. Light illuminated a cliff wall on the right, so they would have to turn left.

When they did, the sun reflected gold off the land so intensely that they were blinded, pulling back on the reigns to slow their horses until their vision could adjust, squinting through sand-glittered wind that blew their hair back. Soft grains crunched under-hoof and once they were able to see at last, Faulkln's blue eye widened in awe of an endless sea of sand that melted into heat-blurred obscurity after what Faulklin would guess were a few miles touched only by the breeze.

They rode to the crest of a hill overlooking the desert, the only place within view that sprouted grass, and what vegetation it did have was dry and brittle, shattering under the steps of their mounts. He squinted into the distance, but could see nothing worth his attention that would even remotely suggest the presence of a Colossus, or a structure that might be its resting place or indicate a path, though with the sun in his face, it was hard to tell.

Raising his sword, the blade almost seemed to suck all of the light from the desert, tainting it a deep veil of shadowed blue to his eyes instead of gold. As he turned it left, the beams of light that came slightly together parted again, so instead he angled it right until it pointed at a U-shaped structure of pillars that barely poked out of the side of one of the mountains, rendered visible now that the sun no longer shrouded the land in glare, the sword seeming to rumble a low growl in his hand in eagerness of tasting the blood of another Colossus.

He nudged Rebel's side and they ran towards it, down steep slopes and plowing small waves of sand in front and alongside them as they went, leaving behind a thin trail that was soon blown over and erased by the wind. The shadows of the mountainside were startlingly cool after the sun left his back, but he ignored it and pressed onward toward the entrance, which was blocked by fallen, square stones that seemed almost deliberately placed. Beyond was a tunnel leading down, where their horses couldn't follow. They would have to proceed on foot.

Their path was a tunnel, lined in several small blockades of stone as they went, but none that were impassible, only a minor nuisance. Finally, after they had traveled a good deal underground, the tunnel opened up. Just ahead was a wider platform that clung to this side of the wall, and at the edge, a crumbled archway where the floor fell away into a deep, long pit. A thicker pillar with an 'm' shaped arc sat in the middle of the deep chamber, and from just above it, an opening where light poured down from above.

As they walked, both noted unhappily that the floor of the large chamber was at least a full hundred feet down, and with what looked like no stairs or way to get down easily. There was also no sign of the aforementioned Colossus and no light to use the sword to locate it, at least not where they were.

"I feel like this is the right place," Faulklin hummed, walking around the edge of the drop to the far end where it overlooked, glancing over the edge and trying to figure out a safe path down. "But I don't hear or see anything." Even in a quiet tone, his voice sounded startlingly loud in the quiet of the large chamber.

Even at the end, where he could see to the far side of it, there was no such beasts. Plenty enough structures, carved by the hands of Men, with floors and pillars and a doorway on the far side that was impossible to reach, but nothing to suggest that a Colossus dwelled here, even though this place even matched the cryptic words Dormin had provided that the beast dwelled underground.

Khu croaked from his shoulder and took flight, gliding around the chamber to the far end as if deciding to be his eyes and his lure for the beast, but nothing else turned, and before long, the crow returned to perch on his shoulder where he pet it in appreciation.

He held the sword up, but the light did nothing to show him the way, too far from his reach. Unless he could reach the floor or the top of that pillar, but as he eyed the sides, he knew it would be impossible.

"So what's the plan?" Daijoudan questioned, likewise searching, his posture warily rigid. It was too quiet.

"Well if I could reach that light, I could tell you," Faulklin huffed, staring up at the m-arch in frustration, before his gaze glided over the walls to the sides of it. "But I can't reach it. These walls are man-made... too tall and smooth without purchase for even the most experienced climber. I might be able to if I could get down to the floor level, but I'm wary to go down there without knowing what might be waiting."

Daijoudan nodded his agreement as Faulklin looked for a way to get down. It was looking like the only path was a vertical climb down where the crumbled archway stood, a long row of ledges that led all the way down. They should be able to climb back up that way as well if nothing turned up.

Heading that way, he sheathed his sword and swung down the side, climbing down one precarious ledge at a time, Daijoudan following him. Faulklin was quicker, dropping down and catching each one with his hands, while Daijoudan was a little more reserved, stepping down and only letting his weight down when he was sure his footing was secure. There was a larger ledge that jutted out and allowed for some rest for their arms before they continued, though Faulklin didn't slow, and Daijoudan didn't allow him to go ahead alone either.

When they reached the bottom and dropped down, an earthen rumble made both of them tense, and the loud scraping of stone caused both males to whirl around as the same wall of ledges they had used to climb began to recede into the floor, rattling pieces of loose stone off to rain down in a thin wall of dust. As t fell away further, a humanoid Colossus closely akin to Valus stepped out, its legs flying over them without even seeing the two men.

"...I think I found the Colossus," Faulklin muttered sarcastically, back-pedaling against the wall so as not to be crushed underfoot by one of its great hooves.

"You're hilarious," Daijoudan returned, equally as sarcastic.

The Colossus walked forward several steps, but when it found no foe, it began to turn, both Faulklin and Daijoudan springing into action and running around its legs to avoid its sightline. A wall partly blocked their path further into the temple, but it was easy for them to scale, leaping off to the other side and hoping to buy some time to calculate their strategy.

They turned around as they reached the far arch's pillar and turned around, the Colossus turning to face them and its blue orbs piercing the darkness frighteningly as it lumbered towards them and the short wall.

It gave them all of three seconds before the Colossus' legs smashed straight through with no effort at all and forced them to keep running for the next one, scaling that wall just behind the large stone pillar. Just as they started to climb over, the Colossus already reached them and smashed through that one too, sending them both to the ground with the rubble in a short daze, only to scramble up as the beast came upon them with much more speed than the last four land-based Colossus had had.

They darted around the other side of the pillar back in the direction they came, only to circle fully around it as the Colossus pursued, almost matching pace, though it took more time and effort for it to turn to circle around the block.

Indeed, this one was neither fool nor slow.

They sprinted hard for the last wall and clamored over it, with Daijoudan up first and offering his hand to help pull the shorter male up quicker, just before the Colossus reached and smashed through that as well, the two diving through some pillars on the far side beneath a stone portico, not having the time to think of anything except running at this point and hiding.

"I feel like a rat, scurrying for cover," Faulklin lamented through panting breath, kneeling against the far wall of their hiding place out of the beast's sight range. "This is ridiculous!"

"Stop whining and figure something out," Daijoudan snapped under his breath. "Because our only escape slid into the floor. There won't be any running away from the fight this time, no matter if we want to or not."

It was true. The other fights, there had been the option of leaving the territory of the Colossus without fighting it. This time they were cornered, and the only way they were getting out was if they killed it, before it killed them. Even then, they might not have a route to escape out of, but they would certainly never locate an exit if they were forced to sprint for their lives.

"And you'd better think of it quick," the man added as the Colossus came to stop in front of their hiding place with a guttural grunt, the only part of its massive form that was visible being its lower legs and knees, and with no fur within reach to climb that either one could see, even on the back of its ankle as Valus had had.

The Colossus pitched forward and they prepared for it to smash into their hiding place too, ready to flee from an avalanche of stone, but instead it bent to one knee and braced a large hand against the ground, a long, dangling beard of fur appearing along with its head as it peered between the pillars on the far side and then scanned past every one, steadily coming towards spotting them.

"Now!" Daijoudan hissed, Faulklin leaping to his feet at the command and dashing forward.

The Colossus spotted him in surprise as the boy sprinted towards it instead of away and began to lift itself back up, but Faulklin reached it just in time to grab onto the end of its beard as it rose to full height. The swing of momentum as it did so, the beard swaying one side and then the other, allowed the short brunette to vault up to the fur just below its shoulder on the chest, climbing as quickly as he could manage.

With a reverberating growl, the large Colossus rolled its shoulders in an attempt to dislodge the miniscule pest, but Faulklin was getting used to the swaying movements of the giants as they had tried to dislodge him each time and held on tightly, not allowing himself to fall.

As Faulklin tried to reach the top of the Colossus' back and its head, Daijoudan drew his silver blade and sprinted from cover, slashing as the monster's leg in an attempt to both distract and wound, but it was like striking solid stone and he _tsk_'ed, running when he realized his attacks would do no good at all other than draw its attention.

The great behemoth turned to watch him run, but it didn't immediately pursue, its attention still fixed on Faulklin as the boy came close toward the jutting spine of stone that protruded from the center of its back. Daijoudan picked up a stone and hurled it, hitting it on one of the glaring eyes set within the Colossus' stone head and hearing a faint scratch like stone on glass. The beast finally paid him proper attention and began its pursuit, forcing Daijoudan to run as quickly as he could, but at least he didn't have to worry about climbing any more walls or being slowed down by them.

Faulklin took a brief rest on its shoulders, the Colossus occasionally twitching to throw him off, but failed each time. Finally he stood and ran to its head, throwing himself down and plunging his blade into the glyph there, the Colossus letting out a bellow like that of a bull. It planted its legs firmly and arched forward, ready to throw its head back, but when Faulklin stabbed it again, it faltered instead.

A jet of black, inky blood pelted his chest and his clothes, and Faulklin instinctively turned his head aside to avoid getting it in his eyes so that he could still see as the Colossus began to walk again, drawn by Daijoudan's loud, clear whistling, the sound echoing around the chamber. Daijoudan ran about the far edge of the wall, making himself a harder target to hit with the wall being in the beast's way, and it raised a leg to step on him, just as Faulklin stabbed it again and made it falter instead, crashing head-long into the wall and sending down a rain of debris.

Daijoudan swore foully as he found some distance and whirled around, his eyes searching, simply waiting for a small, broken body to crumple to the ground as the Colossus stepped away, but there was nothing. He didn't see Faulklin on its head or the ground, and he couldn't help but dread that maybe he was now imbedded in the crater left by the beast's skull, nothing more than a splatter that was as much a part of the wall as the rock said structure was constructed out of.

Then he saw a head of brown hair pop up from the other side of the Colossus' spine, balancing carefully on its quivering shoulders and dashing back to where the blade was still imbedded deeply into the Colossus' skull, making the beast groan in disoriented agony.

When Faulklin reached the site of the sword and glyph again, it was nearly impossible to dislodge the blade, the male having to twist and pull hard, making the Colossus stagger and moan, almost falling backwards as he finally loosed the sharp edge and the largest gush of black blood he had earned yet.

The beast raised a hand to try and smash the boy, but Daijoudan divided its attention as he swooped in and draw his white blade along with the silver one, striking its ankle in one direction, then the other in rapid succession.

Much to his surprise, where his silver sword had failed, and Faulklin's had during the fight with the Second Colossus, his white blade actually managed to cut the hide of the beast and earn a roar that might have been pain or simply anger. Nothing sprayed outward, but a black ooze dribbled from the slash and made the beast stagger slightly in what was likely more surprise than anything.

Faulklin glanced down in surprise of his own as he felt the entire beast jerk and turn its attention towards Daijoudan, who was running to a safe distance again.

"The Hell...?"

"My sword can cut its hide where there's no fur!" Daijoudan told him, sheathing his silver one since it was of little use to him in this fight, and instead gripping the white one with both hands.

That was actually surprising to Faulklin, but perhaps that meant the man would be useful to him after all. Between him attacking it from above and hitting its weak points, and Daijoudan slashing it where his own sword couldn't even scratch from below...

That gave him a rather wicked, genius idea.

"After I get my attack in and climb back to its shoulders, slash its leg again, as deep as you can!" Faulklin ordered.

Daijoudan nodded and they both prepared themselves as the Colossus began to recover, the youth stabbing the sword down again into another spot in its head, which earned yet one more bellow. Leaving it lodged there, just enough to stay, he ran to the edge of its face and swung down, hanging by its fur, and smeared some of the black blood over the beast's eyes to blind it. The creature howled alarm and shook its head to clear the haze over its eyes, and when he kicked it in the front of its stone face, it charged forward, crashing headlong into the stone again and lodging the blade in deep while Faulklin climbed to the safety of its mid-back.

The entire chamber rattled with the force of the Colossus' blow, and it was just then that Daijoudan swooped in, leaving a nice, long gash in the back of its leg. It staggered backward, forcing Daijoudan to retreat along the wall and the brunette to scramble to its head now as its shoulders came into contact with the m-arch's support. Faulklin dislodged his blade as the beast fell to its knees, and when it crashed forward into the ground, he was back on its shoulders again, clinging on for dear life.

He could still feel subtle movements in the Colossus' form, knowing that it was dazed, not dead, and that there were more vitals to locate and stab.

Now that he had it grounded and stunned, hopefully he would finish it now before it could recover. He ran across its back, and just above its hip on its back, another glyph sprang to life.

Before the beast could rouse, he dropped to his knees and stabbed the glyph with a vengeance, feeling the small mountain beneath him twitch and writhe. It took four good stabs, but that glyph vanished as well, though much to his displeasure, it wasn't the end of the Colossus, and it began to rise, quickly and with renewed vigor.

Faulklin tumbled down its back and the stone ledges that made up its lower body, hitting the ground and scrambling to his feet to get well out of its way as it stood. He needed to figure out where the last of the glyphs was, then attack it once more. Hopefully now, with it so much nearer to death, it would be slower and less trouble.

While it was turning to find him, he raised his sword in the light cast by the ceiling's hole above, finding it on the back of its left hand.

Before it could fully find its feet, he ran to its hand braced against the ground and leapt atop it, just before it became too far to reach, scrambling up.

The Colossus noticed him immediately and flicked its hand hard to throw him off, but Faulklin held on, waiting for it to still and then driving his blade into it. It howled rage but its eyes went not to Faulklin, but Daijoudan, as the man ran forward with his blade and leapt up at its leg, driving the white sword into its thick hide.

The beast staggered at the same moment it tried to flick Faulklin off, side-stepping, and balled its hand into a fist, punching the wall and trying to knock Faulklin off in the process, but the boy held on stubbornly even as the flat of the stone scraped his shoulder raw.

Daijoudan drew his blade out and leapt back, ready to attack again, but the Colossus' attention shifted quicker than he thought it would and the full bulk of its hoof crashed into him and send him flying several feet, hitting the ground hard and rolling several more where he lay dazed and breathless.

Faulklin cursed and drew his blade from the Giant's hand, but when he drove the blade in again, the Colossus smashed him against the wall and he felt something _crack_, stealing the air from his lungs and almost causing him to lose his grip on the weapon and fur to fall. He barely held on, his consciousness fluttering, and the Colossus lifted its hand with a snarl of annoyance that he still clung on.

Daijoudan finally managed to draw a harsh breath, the wind having been knocked from his chest, and dragging himself onto his elbows to watch as Faullklin scrambled for a foothold and drew the blade from the Colossus' hand, driving it in again. The beast twitched in rage and flicked him, but he still didn't let go, so as he drew the blade out again, he angled it to strike, only to be smacked into the wall again, so hard that Daijoudan could _hear_ his body hit stone and things break even from a distance.

He swore profusely and tried to stand, but his body didn't want to cooperate, still winded from the merciless kick from the giant, and when the Colossus' arm fell to its side again, he could see Faulklin still barely dangling there by one hand, limp like a rag doll and looking as though he wasn't even conscious. Hell, maybe not even _alive_.

But the brat moved. He twitched and weakly reached an arm up to grab the fur on the Colossus' hand, kicked his legs until he found purchase to heave himself up, and pull the blade out, gingerly touching the tip to the glyph on its hand, and every hair on the man's head stood up in horrified realization as he saw Faulklin's gleaming eye flutter open and the malicious, suicidal _grin_ that contoured his lips.

_Shit!_

He didn't care if his body didn't want to move, he forced it, staggering to his feet and sprinting, ignoring that he still couldn't quite breathe properly, but he wasn't anywhere near fast enough to keep it from slamming its hand into the wall again, a shattering roar escaping the beast as it staggered and the blue light of its eyes faded to black.

Daijoudan ran even faster as the giant pitched forward, its knees shattering perfectly lined stone as it collapsed, and then its chest cast a shadow over him. He barely avoided being crushed beneath its full weight as gravity slammed it into the ground, still felt the shockwave of its impact through his entire body, but ignored it as he raced towards Faulklin's still form where the kid lay unmoving.

He almost skidded on his knees as he came to step next to the boy, turning him over and feeling for a pulse or a breath. It was shallow, but a faint gust wafted from his blood-stained lips, and his chest still rose and fell, though it was strained. He tried to figure out just how much had been done. His head seemed safe from any indents or breaks where he had thought it might be crushed against the wall, so that was good, but he could tell immediately that there were at least a couple of ribs that were not only fractured, but snapped clean.

"You fucking idiot," he hissed, gritting his teeth. A dislocated limb, he could mend. He might even be able to re-set the ribs, but those would take weeks to heal, and the trace of blood that he'd coughed up alone promised internal bleeding, though how bad, he couldn't be sure. It might not be lethal, but Faulklin wouldn't be moving around much any time soon. "How the Hell do you plan to finish what you began when you pull stunts like this?"

He didn't get his answer, since even if Faulklin would awaken on his own, the shadows from the Colossus' corpse found the boy and disappeared into his body again, pitching him into an almost coma-like state. Daijoudan snarled under his breath, uttering various complaints, but there was nothing to be done for it now. They needed to figure out how to get out of this damn pit, since it wouldn't matter if they'd survived the fight or not otherwise.


	10. The Leviathan in the Deep

**What I Wouldn't Sacrifice  
>A Shadow of the Colossus Fanfiction<strong>

* * *

><p>When Faulklin's awareness returned it was accompanied with a scream of unadulterated pain and they were still within the vicinity of the 6th Colossus - <em>Barba<em>'s - lair. It was shortly after waking that he realized Daijoudan was kneeling over him and his sudden yell had startled the man, making him withdraw a hand in surprise from trying to align his ribs properly.

The younger boy spit and cursed at him banefully, but Daijoudan only snapped at him to shut up and try to stay still while he tried to right the damage that the boy had caused himself in his idiotic bid for victory. It was _excruciating_, but the adolescent endured it through to the end. The pain didn't stop when Daijoudan was finished, and Faulklin could distinctly taste blood, but he refused to let the older man talk him into giving up his quest due to his injuries.

Utterly _refused_.

Even under threat that Daijoudan would knock him out again, but Faulklin wasn't so slow that he couldn't figure out it was an empty threat. Daijoudan wouldn't make his injuries any worse than they already were, not when they were _this _bad, no matter how annoyed or how much the other male hated him. It was a long, tiring argument later that Faulklin managed to whittle away Daijoudan's patience too much to give a damn about trying to stop him and they found themselves riding back for the Shrine at the center of the forbidden lands, though all that Faulklin could manage to tolerate was a soft canter, rather than a full gallop, his wounds aching too much to endure anything more than that for now.

They rode up to the forest in silence and slowed to a walk as they reached the cave because even that was becoming too much for the brunette. Daijoudan had no complaints with slowing their pace and even suggested they stop entirely. To their right was a grassy, open glen and a wide but shallow lagoon that would have been a perfect place to take rest, but Faulklin would have none of it, and the older male didn't feel like arguing with the human equivalent of a brick wall.

So they pressed on through the forest beyond, and the only cooperation Daijoudan managed to earn out of his unpleasant companion was to eat some of the fruit that he offered as they went, since they were taking far longer this time to return anyway.

Their trek back was long and slow-going, and Faulklin couldn't help but stretch forward and rest his head against Rebel's neck, letting his consciousness drift in and out. Even Daijoudan took the time on horseback to rest as much as he could, trusting Ayametsuki to get him to his proper destination in due time. The steady, smooth gait of the mare and sun on his back as they came out of the forest and into open fields was soothing, and he was in no rush to return only to go rushing off into another battle.

Hopefully, neither would Faulklin, because annoyance and exhaustion aside, he didn't think the kid would survive another fight. He had no intention of picking up where Faulklin left off, and no desire to take part in escorting a child just shy of twenty years toward his death, even if Faulklin had no problems with it. The horses occasionally paused to nibble a few patches of tantalizing grass, but otherwise they marched on uninterrupted.

When they reached the Shrine's interior, another one of the statues had already crumbled and Dormin's voice immediately peeled down from the sky.

_**"Thy next foe is... A ruin hidden in the lake... A ripple of thunder lurks underwater."**_

Faulklin couldn't help but groan, burying his face against Rebel's nape. "Why does it have to be another lake?"

Daijoudan only hummed. "If you have a problem with it, we should rest anyways. You won't be able to fight for a while with those injuries."

Predictably enough, Faulklin didn't listen, only turning Rebel back towards the outside and nudging the stallion into a walk. Daijoudan sighed, but decided it probably best that he didn't leave the kid alone as he went. At the very least, it appeared as if he couldn't manage to tolerate more than a walk out of his horse, and the dark animal seemed to sense its masters physical distress and moved with care, so it would take them some time to reach the next one. It would be best if they stayed where they were, but resting on horseback on the way to the next area was an option as well. Less ideal, but still an option.

The light of the sword took them across the sea behind the Shrine over the natural bridge and retracing their way back to the arena of the 3rd Colossus, though if it had a name like the others, he hadn't heard Faulklin utter it. It was just as slow as their return to the Shrine had been, but Daijoudan had no desire to speed to the next Colossus territory and Faulklin was too battered to be impatient for once, simple resting atop Rebel's back in a state of pained half-awareness. Probably for the better, anyway.

When they finally reached the lake of the third Colossus, half a day must have gone by with their sluggish speed, and the shadows prevented them from following the sword further. They wondered if the other Colossus might be underneath the water of this area instead of on top, but somehow Daijoudan doubted it and Faulklin hadn't the energy to dispute it.

Instead, Daijoudan hopped off his horse and took the sacred sword, climbing to the top of the spiral path across the lake while Faulklin waited with his and Daijoudan's horses, bent over the saddle tiredly and trying not to let his ribs or ruptured insides bother him too much. When Daijoudan returned, he sheathed the blade back at Faulklin's side and jumped onto Ayametsuki's back, gathering up the reigns.

"Further down the ravine continues. It's somewhere northwest of here beyond that, probably at the end of it."

Faulklin merely nodded mutely and let Daijoudan lead. Just as he said, the ravine continued, and they followed the linear path straight for quite a ways. It intercepted with another branch of the ravine to their left, but they continued straight. Finally, a fork in two different directions forced them to choose, and they headed right. At another fork, they paused, trying to discern whether to go left, further into the mountains, or right to what was clearly a more open expanse.

Ultimately, they chose to head to the right again, where sunlight finally reached them and Faulklin was able to hold up his sword to point their direction.

As luck would have it, they were right where they needed to be, and they soon found the ruin they were searching for, short walls dividing them from the expanse of a deep lake below just beyond carved pillars and shallow stone steps, a bridge extending out high above the water.

Faulklin pulled his horse to a stop near the end where the bridge crumbled away, looking more alert now than he had the entire ride there, and Daijoudan followed his eye towards three dancing spots of light that flickered just beneath the depths of the water far below.

"What the Hell is that?"

"The Colossus," Daijoudan guessed. "Most likely."

Faulklin nodded, but he was still baffled. The light moved in angry flickers, like branches or writhing snakes, and it brought to mind bolts of lightning he had seen sometimes in the sky. Then he remembered Dormin's words, something about thunder, and he couldn't help but frown.

He and Daijoudan slid from their saddles and walked to the edge of the bridge, kneeling down to get a good look from a safe distance. Obviously the same problem weighed on their minds as they surveyed what they would have to work with and tried to assess how they were going to handle this fight.

"Your plan?"

"I'm thinking on it," Faulklin huffed. This time he had not just one problem, but two. He still hadn't the slightest idea of how to swim, and once he entered the water, he didn't imagine he'd get the time to learn. He was also still injured, and that was going to make him more ineffective. He needed to be more careful now than ever in how he approached this particular fight.

His eye trailed further, taking note of the spiraling structure just beyond the bridge, which they would have to leap to, but it wasn't too far off, and it continued upwards. He decided the best thing to do was to leap across - which he did, grunting and almost doubling over as he landed with how his body protested - and walk to the top where he could get a better vantage point.

At the top, he quickly discerned that there wasn't much in the way of structures to use, other than the bridge they had just come across and the spiral-path tower they were on now. It looked like there was a segment of bridge below that had long ago crumbled and sunk, with only a small, circular platform and the narrowed edges of the path still in-tact and partially submerged at a tilt. Beyond that was another segment of bridge, still rising proudly far above the water, but disconnected from any other structures and impossible to reach.

Suffice to say, there were little options for this fight for someone that couldn't swim, and Faulklin still wasn't sure what sort of Colossus they were dealing with. So far, three had been semi-humanoid, one a bull, another a bird, and the last out of those being a horse. He could tell, looking at the lights and their positioning and the subtle movements he could see, this one was probably serpent in form, yet no less large than any previous. If not in width, then _definitely _in length. The spacing of the furthest lights alone appeared to be about as long as Avion had been from beak-to-tail and at least as wide discounting the 5th's wings.

Peering over the edge, he noted that the spiral led all the way down to the water, so reaching that or climbing back out shouldn't be difficult. Now they just had to lure the Colossus out from hiding.

Straightening up, he walked down the path to reunite with Daijoudan further down.

"Alright, kind of the same as with Avion... you lure it out from the water, and try to get it to come close to the structure. I'll figure out how to finish it off from there." Daijoudan didn't look happy, but he didn't argue, Faulklin raising a brow at him imploringly. The older of the two could tell that Faulklin wasn't any happier about having to ask for help, but the lad was smart enough not to refuse it at the moment either. "Ready to play fish bait? You came to help me, after all, so make yourself useful."

"Just don't screw up," Daijoudan told him, undoing his hair tie for a moment and tying his long hair almost into a bun, so it would be well out of his way in the water, and making sure his swords were tightly secured to his belt, before he waded in, pushing off the stone to further out.

Faulklin was watching the dancing lights carefully and saw them begin to grow closer, moving more purposefully now rather than merely drifting along at a lazy pace. The longer he stared, the more he also noticed a blue glow that he could only guess was an eye, and confirmed as it began to come to the surface that it was indeed a serpent of some sort, its back lined in three spines that emitted those crackling lights and trailed dead plant matter caught around them. A long, paddle-like tail emerged from the depths as it dove and circled around again, and Faulklin thought he saw a glimpse of fur there, but he couldn't be entirely certain.

After a moment, he saw its entire body illuminated by a bright light as it slipped through the lake far below, giving a clear indication to its full size, proving itself twice as long as Avian had been and a little wider in body, long whiskers like that of a catfish trailing from its snout. The Colossus vocalized an odd, guttural growl muffled by the water, like the moan of a whale.

Faulklin spotted that radiant blue light become reddish beneath the waves and its head begin to ascend towards Daijoudan.

"Here it comes," Faulklin warned, getting ready himself for whatever it was going to do and calculating what he needed to do in response as well. He could hear the crackling noise of those lights as it drew closer and Daijoudan, wary of them, wisely swam away from those spines as the head of the beast dipped beneath him.

The first spine passed underneath the water harmlessly, but as the second spine came up where Daijoudan used to be, the surface of the lake rippled with electricity, covering a broad range that would have lit the man up like a Christmas tree had he not moved. The third spine surfaced with the same effect before disappearing beneath the waves.

Finally, they passed, and Faulklin saw its tail arch up toward the surface, preparing and then throwing himself forward just before it rose out of the water, grabbing onto the fur there just before it dove and not hearing Daijoudan shout at him, save for an unrecognizable garble that the waves swallowed as water filled his ears and blinding him.

The Colossus pulled him along like an underwater speeding locomotive and within mere seconds, the pressure made his ears pop painfully in his head and his lungs constrict from the pressure, quickly pulling him a good twenty feet deep in an instant. His wounds panged fiercely and almost made the adolescent gasp, but he stubbornly held his breath, trying to crack his single eye open. His vision was met with a hazy, deep brown mass of waving fur that was growing lighter in shades as the Colossus rose from the deep to breach the lake's surface once more.

Open air came _almost _within reach, and Faulklin tilted his head up to hopefully snatch a mouthful of air, but its large oar of a tail pulled him down again as it propelled itself forward, making him grunt in vain protest, his chest feeling as if it would burst from the forced current of the Colossus' movement alone.

Just as he thought he couldn't take any more, its tail arched out of the water and he drew in a sharp gasp of air, and another. It dove again before he could move forward, and as a row of short, round spines illuminated its body, he feared he might be electrocuted, but no shock came.

The second time it surfaced, he drew in a quick gasp and then stood, stumbling forward along its back as quickly and steadily as his legs would carry him, kneeling down to grab onto its fur as it slithered beneath the churning waves once again. It dove another time just before he could reach the first spine, and he worried once more that he might be in for a nasty sensation, but the electrical current that he could _hear _crackle from one of those tall, orange spines didn't reach. He knew though that if it dove again and he drew closer, it would definitely hurt him.

His sword pulsed in its sheath, and he could see a teal-black fissure just behind one of the spines. He wasn't sure what sort of effect stabbing it would have, but there was only one way to find out, and he prepared himself as it dove and surfaced again, turning its head and bellowing displeasure to find Faulklin hitching a ride.

When they were well clear of the water, he ran forward. The fur transitioned there from brown into a rusty orange, and as soon as Faulklin's feet touched that segment, he could feel an unpleasant tingle that traveled up his legs, making his muscles tighten and breath seize, every hair on his body standing up involuntarily from the sensation. He knew then and there that he had to avoid getting pulled underwater where the effect would only become that much worse and plunged the sword down deeply into the crack, felt the entire Colossus twitch and writhe in pain, changing directions, and the light of the farthest-back spine died to leave it nothing but a black, harmless protrusion. A fountain of black gushed skyward, then became a thick, inky cloud as the Colossus dunked him again, but that nerve-tingling feeling dissipated away like a bad dream.

One down, two to go.

He waited for the Colossus to submerge itself once more, lightning crackling around the second spine, before he rushed towards it and ran his blade into this crack as well, making the middle spine lose its light and power now too, getting an unpleasant spray of black blood in the face and furiously wiping it away as it stung his skin, but the water washed it away well enough.

So far he hadn't seen a single major glyph, only those cracks, but with any luck, one of them would be just ahead. All he had to do was finish off the last of those lightning-infused spines, hope that they wouldn't regenerate, and then find the major sigils.

He jumped up and ran for the last one, raising his blade as he fell to his knees and grasped its fur, so as not to be dragged off by the water with no grip as it dove back underneath, but it went under quicker than he expected, this time straight down instead of forward, and he instantly felt the current of deadly electricity course through him, its power exemplified ten fold by the water, and water flooded his airways as he screamed agony.

* * *

><p>As soon as the Colossus came at him, Daijoudan moved aside towards the half-submerged bridge segment. He didn't like the sound of that crackle nor the way the lights on its body flickered like underwater lightning. He had seen what lightning could do to a tree before. He didn't want to even begin to consider what it could do to a human body.<p>

Just as he hauled himself clear of the water and spun around, he saw Faulklin leap off the spiral path and onto the Colossus' tail, getting dragged under too fast for him to do anything except shout in exasperation at just how blatantly _idiotic _the brat continually strived to prove himself to be.

All he could do was watch as the Colossus dove a couple stories deep, too deep too quickly for any person to be able to stand without suffering, and he grit his teeth as he waited to see if Faulklin would emerge with the Colossus or if the little fool had been swallowed with the depths and drown. He saw the Colossus' head come up with one spine, then the others, but not its tail at first.

Then at last, he saw it, its massive rudder barely breaching the surface with Faulklin still holding on, only to disappear again. When its tail breached open air a second time, the scrawny idiot began to make his way forward, crouching down to hold on each time it bobbed underwater, before he made it to the first spine and stabbed just behind it, and the electrical fin went dark, much to Daijoudan's surprise. Then the second one soon went out with another stab.

He saw Faulklin go for the third, but he could already tell before Faulklin noticed that it was a mistake, yelling a warning, but if Faulklin heard it at all, the boy ignored it, and the Colossus arched straight down towards the bottom, entirely engulfing the teen in a mass of crackling, deadly light.

Daijoudan cursed and jumped off the structure as he barely saw a pale face come up without breath, then vanish again, sinking beneath the murky, deep blue.

He dove underneath the water and swam hard, silently swearing as he saw Faulklin sinking deeper, not struggling at all. Daijoudan had to struggle to reach the depths that he was falling to by the time he reached the same place, clawing through the water to grab him and finally managing to grasp the boy's wrist, kicking back towards the surface. Even underwater, he heard the Colossus moan a low, reverberating roar, but he focused on getting air first, gasping as he broke the surface of the water.

After three good breaths, he swiveled around and saw the bulk of the Colossus' head coming straight up, and he quickly pedaled back and heaved Faulklin away from its last crackling spine. He paused just long enough to hold a hand against the boy's lips, which dribbled blood diluted by the lake water, and felt no breath from him, growling low in his throat in fury.

He turned and swam as best he could towing the petite male along, having to avoid the Colossus' attempts at finishing them off three times before he was able to reach the stone structures and pull them both out of the water to safety, soaking wet and only one of them technically alive. The Colossus gave an angry groan of its own and dove between the legs of the structure with an audible splash and a smack of its tail that sent a drizzle down upon them, but Daijoudan ignored it. So long as it couldn't reach them, he needn't worry.

Only sparing a second or two to recover himself, he laid Faulklin out supine and bent his ear to the boy's chest, hoping that he had merely drawn conclusions too quickly, but there were no signs of life and he breathed out harshly. With Faulklin's ribs broken from the last fight, resuscitation was going to bring back as many problems as it was going to solve, but there wasn't much other choice other than to leave him dead without even trying to revive him, and he wasn't willing to allow that, even if Faulklin was the largest pain in the ass he had ever known or probably ever would.

Pressing his hands to the boy's chest, he began compressions, silently counting each one in his head before giving a breath, tasting far too much blood, but he ignored it and kept going, silently wondering to himself as he did so if he was just wasting his time.

He was finally awarded with a spluttering cough of both water and blood mixed, and he rolled the boy over onto his side so that Faulklin could clear his lungs. The Colossus gave another moan of anger and impatience, and Daijoudan felt the entire structure of the crumbled bridge rattle as it brushed its body against it below, but the ruin held despite the monster's efforts and Daijoudan spared it little attention.

Faulklin coughed and rolled onto his arms to push himself up, bent over and coughing roughly, before coughing turned into heaving, vomiting what looked like a slosh of coffee grounds and dark red blood, causing Daijoudan's brows to knit in baffled scrutiny. Faulklin slowly lifted his head with a slight lolling motion, looking up at Daijoudan, but his single eye was glassy and his lips and chin coated in red and pink, and after a moment his eye rolled into his head and the boy slumped again. Daijoudan caught him before he hit the ground and laid the boy carefully on his side, feeling his pulse and his breath, finding it thankfully still there.

If he was in no condition to fight before, though, now he was in no condition to even _move_. He wouldn't be finishing this battle.

The Colossus however either didn't notice or didn't care, moaning again demandingly and butting up against the supports of the bridge segment, harder this time.

Daijoudan scowled and turned his attention to the sacred sword. Even after all that, Faulklin still hadn't let go of the damn thing. The man dreaded the idea of killing off the Colossus, especially since it wasn't a task he had agreed to and still held his suspicions about, but it wasn't looking like there was much choice. So, he pried the blade out of Faulklin's hand and left the boy there on the safety of the ruin, while he stood on the edge and shone the blade to find out where its weak points were.

His annoyance lessened a degree when he found that the only place it pointed as the Colossus' head and nowhere else, but he was under no delusion that it would be easy.

First he had to contend with that other electrical spine.

He leapt into the water and waited for the Colossus to come to him, and when it did, he dodged away from the first spine and didn't worry himself with the other two that had gone dark, grabbing onto its tail as he had seen Faulklin do as it came up.

The force of the water resistance was even worse than the wind had been atop the bird Colossus two fights prior, but he managed to hold both his breath and his grip until it surfaced once again. In all of a few seconds, he could already feel the raw power that coursed through the Leviathan, even now that the two rear spines were rendered powerless. One jolt of that energy would be enough to stop anyone's heart in their tracks and potentially fry their innards to pulp, and he once again found himself cursing Faulklin's heedlessness as he recalled the dark, bloody mush the boy's body had expelled.

Running down the length of the Colossus' body was comparatively easy, but he could feel the energy of that first spine as he drew close, being much more wary than Faulklin had. If he wasn't quick enough, he just might end up dead, just as Faulklin almost had and potentially still might. He would have to be quick and precise.

He waited for the exact second when the Colossus dove and rose again, then sprinted forward, bringing the blade down with all his speed and might so that the last one finally went dark. Just on the other side, the top of the Colossus' head, a glyph sprang to life in the presence of the sword. The Colossus bemoaned the loss of its electrical defenses and dunked Daijoudan underwater as he lunged at the last glyph, dragging the man down and then up as it threw its head out of the water, then back down, making him take in a mouthful of water and sputter as he came back up, but Daijoudan still didn't waste the chance to drive the blade down.

Once. Twice. Three times. He paused to shake the water out of his eyes as he came up sopping wet, but it was entirely wasted as the Colossus dipped its head down again, making Daijoudan squint his eyes shut and hold his breath. Four times. Five was the final strike, and the Colossus keened as it threw its head out of the water and writhed back and fourth, creating small tidal waves and sending white foam into the air to sprinkle down like rain.

Its body began to sink first, then its head slipped under, and Daijoudan let go, paddling on the surface as he watched its shadows form become overtaken by a black veil. He swore softly and began to swim back towards the structure as quickly as he could, though he wasn't fast enough to reach it before those tendrils of darkness spiraled out of the beast and into the air. He half expected they might go into him, since he had slain the Colossus this time and held the sword, but they went for Faulklin again and disappeared inside him.

When Daijoudan reached the ruin and ran to Faulklin's side, he checked for signs of life, and found Faulklin still breathing. Weakly, but still breathing.

He sighed and relaxed, only slightly, sliding the sacred sword back into its scabbard at Faulklin's side and carefully picking the smaller boy up. One more Colossus down, and nothing else to be done except carry Faulklin out of this Gods forsaken place.


	11. Pacing for the Weary

**What I Wouldn't Sacrifice  
>A Shadow of the Colossus Fanfiction<strong>

* * *

><p>Irritating was only one - very generous, in his opinion - word to describe the task of climbing out of the lake.<p>

Upon reaching the spiral tower again, Daijoudan walked up until he was level with the crumbling bridge that led back to dry land, holding Faulklin's arms around his neck as he carried the unconscious kid on his back. He felt and heard Faulklin choke a cough against him as the man landed, bringing with it a few beads of crimson that dribbled from the corner of his lips, but there wasn't much to be done for it now until they could get back out of this place.

He considered the use of his white blade, but a little voice whispered in his head against that, and he knew better than to ignore it, especially now when there was calm and peace, no immediate rush to get out of the way of danger. Besides, this was a course the boy had chosen for himself. That included all of the consequences which came with the task.

He heard the clack of claws above him and an irritating croak, glancing up to see that tame crow of Faulklin's peering down at him from a higher ledge on the spiral, the bird having disappeared at some point during their trip there. It had a tendency to do that, follow the boy for a while and then disappear to Gods only knew where, probably scavenging for food. It puffed its feathers at him and cawed angrily, but he ignored it, up until the corvid took a dive at his head as he was climbing up the moss clinging to the bridge. He only growled, swatted at it, and continued higher. Both horses waited just at the edge of the bridge anxiously for the return of their masters and Daijoudan had to motion them back.

Rebel sidled towards him and nosed Faulklin lightly with a worried nicker, but he didn't deposit Faulklin onto the stallion's saddle this time, settling him on Ayametsuki before he climbed up himself. He didn't want the stupid, undersized savage to end up falling from his horse and add "head trauma" to his increasingly growing list of injuries.

Rebel snorted at him in protest, but he only rolled his eyes and guided Ayametsuki back to land, trusting that the dark brown Friesian-Shire cross would follow of its own accord. Neither it nor the bird ever wandered too far from the boy, as far as he had seen. Faulklin was _terrible_ with people. Anyone who had spent even ten minutes around him would know that. Animals seemed to like him though, and he was likewise drawn to them, so it was no surprise. Even less surprising was that the horse he chose to ride was equally as volatile and disliked most people. The crow wasn't so much a pet as a rescue that had become acclimated and bonded to him, but with everyone else, it was still wild. They made somewhat of an odd yet perfect trio.

They made it off the bridge and onto dry, cracked soil that had likely once been moist long ago, but time had evaporated all that might have been there. Coming back to the wide stairs just before it and passing a few thick, stone columns, Daijoudan squinted into the distance. Not terribly far was a small, stone shrine. Even further, he could make out the Great Bridge into these lands, its legs towering high and proud a good hundred or more feet straight up. He didn't want to bother with winding his way through the canyon again, so he decided they would just cross the desert toward the bridge, then make their way to the Shrine from there, nudging Ayametsuki into a walk.

In the distance, he could make out pillars of light, almost seeming to cluster from their current position, except for one that was further off to the side. Then he glanced back and up, noting as he did so that there was one behind them now, a beacon to the resting place of the 7th, growing brighter the further they moved away from it, whereas before he hadn't seen it at all. Once again, he couldn't help but think of how strange and supernatural everything here was.

He swiveled back around in his saddle and glanced down at Faulklin, who was lying limp as a ragdoll against him, his expression pained even in unconsciousness. If not for the rise and fall of his sides, albeit shallow and labored, Daijoudan might have thought him already dead. At this point it was an uncertainty whether or not he would end up that way before they could even make it back. He might be lucky just to wake up at all, with how much blood the boy had spit up, and that was probably only a fraction of how much he was really bleeding on the inside.

Daijoudan sighed, deeply and audibly. He hadn't signed up for this just to watch some half-wit punk destroy himself so selfishly for something that probably wasn't even possible. Even if his intent was to do this for someone else's sake, it was selfish. The dead were meant to be left in peace, and did the kid really think that what Mamoru would have wanted was to lose two people thanks to his clan's morbid traditions? It was a suicide mission, plain and simple. He knew that, and he knew that Faulklin had known when he'd agreed to it as well. Talking him out of anything once he set his mind on a goal was damn near impossible. It had taken Mamoru a full year of seeing and experiencing the boy at his very worst for the deviant to even begin to trust or extend much of any amount of cooperation. Mamoru was really still the only one who could garner it out of the boy, too, and it still took an endless amount of patience on the man's part.

Outside of his two animals and Mamoru, Faulklin really didn't trust anyone. Mamoru had told Komeko, and in turn, Komeko had told _him_, that it wasn't simply a voluntary choice. That Faulklin was incapable of putting his faith in people, for one reason or another. No one but the boy himself and Mamoru knew the full extent of _why_, but it wasn't entirely impossible to guess. The loss of one of his eyes and scar on his face alone gave hint, as did the way the kid neglected to take care of even his own basic needs like eating and how he skittishly avoided most human contact like a domesticated cat that had gone feral.

And no one jumped headlong into danger so readily, perpetually taunting the embrace of death like it was a petty game of Chicken, who hadn't been through enough Hell that such a fate probably seemed more of a relief than a tragedy.

More than once, the extent of Faulklin's self-destructive tendencies had managed to churn his stomach, and he was not an easy man to make ill. He couldn't even begin to fathom the daily stress Mamoru must have had to endure for the last three years, always needing to be vigilant for when Faulklin might relapse and afraid that one of those times he might be just slightly too late. It wasn't so much that the boy went out of his way to find a way to kill himself - not anymore, at least - but when the opportunity presented itself, he wasn't one to resist it and fight explicitly for survival either.

That was what worried Daijoudan about this quest most.

It wasn't that Faulklin didn't know the possible consequences of his actions, whether it meant he died in the attempt, or what might happen to him in the afterlife, once Dormin got what he wanted out of the boy. It was that he flat out _didn't care_.

Someone who was simply ignorant could be reasoned with. Someone who knew the full implications and spat in the face of that danger was whole other world apart.

At this point, it might not matter. There was no telling just how quickly Emon and his men would be on their trail. He glanced skyward as they passed the cracked land that had probably been a marshland at one point and into orange sand, the shadow of the mountains falling over them, rather than the heat of the sky. How long had they been here? It was impossible to tell. The sun had yet to move - he assumed it to be the sun, anyway - despite that they had traveled a great distance between the Colossi territories, and the time it had taken to fight the Colossus themselves.

It had to have been days, at _least_. Yet the light in the sky never died. Was it even the sun? He didn't imagine this Dormin being had the power to hold it stationary. Even the three primary Gods of his family line, the In-you-ko dragons, didn't possess the power to hold the sun from moving. Perhaps it was something else, but he couldn't place what.

However long had passed, it hardly mattered. With Faulklin's injuries, _if_ the brunette survived, he would take a long time to heal. Weeks, certainly. They didn't have that kind of time to doddle. Emon would reach them long before them and put a stop to this, and Daijoudan didn't intend on finishing the task for the stubborn boy. He knew better than to strike such a deal when he didn't fully know what this Dormin thing was capable of or what it wanted.

Their path sloped downward, the sand making up small valleys and rising dunes. The bridge was lost to sight, but he knew they were still heading the right way, so he didn't bother himself with rushing to get the great bridge back into view.

Faulklin groaned softly against him and coughed, red once again faintly staining his lips, and the boy's single eye fluttered halfway open, blinking dazedly. He looked ahead with puzzlement etching his features before looking up at Daijoudan, who only frowned at him passively.

"...the Hell...?" he rasped, another weak cough interrupting his words, the boy hissing and scrunching his eyes in pain, sinking back against Daijoudan involuntarily. Daijoudan already knew what the boy wanted to ask before he voiced it.

"You're too injured to ride on your own." A fact that the man was equally if not more so peeved about. He took no pleasure at all with having to share his seat with the kid, and already predicted accurately that Faulklin would give him no gratitude for the act of consideration at all.

"Let me down."

"Not a chance."

Faulklin tried to sit up further and wheezed in anguish, not making it very far.

"See?" Daijoudan at least had the sense not to sound smug about it, letting his tone fall flat and matter-of-fact instead.

"Are we going... back to the Shrine?"

"No." Daijoudan caught the look that Faulklin gave him, but looked forward instead as they crested the top of a dune, the Great Bridge coming into sight again. "Not yet. We're going to find somewhere to take a rest first, whether you want to or not."

"I can't stop," Faulklin gasped.

"And you can't keep going, either. You can't even sit up properly, but you think you can take on another one of those Colossus?" Faulklin didn't answer, and he took it as the closest thing he was going to get to an admission of defeat. They trudged onward slowly, Daijoudan being mindful not to push Ayametsuki into anything faster since it might jar Faulklin's wounds further.

Over another dune where the sun finally reached them, he could see a tree not far off, deciding they would rest there. Beyond that, he could see a gaping hole like a canyon beneath the legs of the bridge, and far beyond that, the silhouette of several pillars in a row, too perfect to be natural. It was probably another Colossus lair, but he didn't think Faulklin noticed it right now - thank the Gods for that.

He was even happier to find that there was a pond next to the tree, only a small one, but a pond none the less, and patches of grass that the horses could feed off of. This would be a good place to stop for rest. Both they and their horses could drink and eat. They could lay in the sun and warm themselves as they rested, and if the heat proved too much, they could shelter in the shade of the tree. If the sun stayed as still as it had the past many hours or days that should have come and gone as well, they wouldn't need to worry about moving with the angle of the shadows.

He slid down from the saddle and pulled Faulklin down, the brunette surprisingly docile, but he could only guess that it was because Faulklin was too wounded to have the energy to extend towards being combative. He set the boy down against the trunk of the tree where he could sit up and then went to Ayametsuki's saddlebags, retrieving the leftover fruit from near the bird's territory, dropping some of it for the horses and the rest for himself and Faulklin. As luck would have it, the trees here bore fruit as well, though not nearly as much as the last one had.

They both ate in silence and Daijoudan consider himself incredibly lucky that Faulklin fell asleep, too battered and exhausted to stay conscious for any great length of time while his body tried to cope and heal from the seven taxing battles. They were almost at the halfway point now, but the end of this journey, if they would ever see it at all, still felt such a long way off.

Seven down, nine more to go.

Whether they really did finish this or not, he would admit that what Faulklin had done so far was more than impressive. Were he to admit with all honesty, he was somewhat shocked the kid hadn't ended up dead already by the third or fourth fight. Equally as impressive was that the boy hadn't lost his nerve and turned tail during any of them, but then again, Faulklin was a tenacious idiot-and-a-half.

He was starting to wonder if the only reason he'd even followed Faulklin was because of morbid curiosity, even though he fully knew his reasons better than that, even if Faulklin hadn't the slightest clue why he was here helping and actually looking out for the little bastard's well-being, even if it was only sparingly so.

As if somehow reading his mind, Faulklin stirred and blinked at him sluggishly, still looking worn-down and defeated, but the silverette knew it was only going to be a fleeting state of being.

"Why are you even here?"

Daijoudan stared sidelong at him for a moment before turning his gaze heavenward, reclining back comfortably. It was nice to finally have a breather after they had taken down nearly half of the great beasts without much pause between.

"Why do you think?"

Faulklin snorted condescension. "As if anyone could get into a mind that doesn't exist."

Again with the intellect insults. And not very good ones this time either. Faulklin was definitely not in any condition to go into another fight any time soon. "Excuse me for mistaking you for someone with any smarts. I forgot you have about as much brains as this desert probably sees rain."

"I'd kick you in the teeth for that but I'd hate to improve your looks," Faulklin rebuked. His comebacks were still weak, but Daijoudan felt no need to curtail his own insults to make it fair.

"First you'd have to be able to reach my teeth, short-stack."

"You really have to stoop to using short jokes again?"

"Why not? I couldn't possibly stoop any lower than your height, and if your list of insults is equally as small, anything you try against me in a battle of wit won't be much of a battle at all."

Faulklin narrowed his eye. "Being short is natural. Being stupid is not." He paused for a moment, before adding, "Except in your case. And there is no battle of wits because I never pick on an unarmed man. Now answer my damn question."

Daijoudan only snorted and smirked, making Faulklin want to wipe that smug look right off his face. Turns out he didn't have to as it disappeared on its own, Daijoudan sobering from the satisfaction of their never ending war of insults.

"During the treaty negotiations, one of the terms was to be rid of human sacrifices entirely, but they took it as a violation of their religious rights." He paused and sighed, looking like he was deflating where he lay, his monochromatic silver eyes carefully guarded in a way that Faulklin recognized as shielding his emotions from view, schooling his expression so that it was unreadable. "I refused to let the matter rest, and they refused to sign the treaty under those conditions, so I'm guessing that in sacrificing her, they were trying to spite me."

"Their sacrifices are because they believe it will bring them some sort of blessing," Faulklin corrected. Daijoudan angled a brow at him.

"You don't really believe that."

Faulklin huffed admission. "No, I don't." In a lot of ways, he was ignorant, but he knew human nature too well to buy into such garbage. Daijoudan was no stranger to the real purpose behind it either. "They do it for control."

Daijoudan nodded both approval and agreement, turning his gaze towards the clouds again and resting his arms behind his head. "It's a manipulation. The only reason she died was so that Emon could thumb his nose at me and the Sanryuu Empire. Saying that its to please the Gods is a head-fake used out of desperation." He sighed again, this time through his nose. "The problem is that he's both a religious and political leader to his people, and they buy into it."

Faulklin hummed, before speaking again softly. "That still doesn't answer my question."

Daijoudan didn't even look at him, focused on the clouds above as if they were the most interesting thing in the world.

"I'm outmaneuvering his ploy," he answered finally. Faulklin raised his brows.

"Come again?"

"His actions were entirely political. I told him that the terms of the treaty were to end human sacrifices, so the first thing he does is commit one as an act of refusal," he explained simply. "If we bring her back from the dead, it undoes his intended effect entirely."

Faulklin's brows rose higher. "So this is just some fucking bureaucratic game to you?" Omission was the man's answer, and Faulklin couldn't help but scoff a disbelieving laugh. "Are you fucking serious? You came all this way over one dead girl to play _politics_? And I'm just some damn pawn in your game?"

"It was your idea to bring her back."

Faulklin shook his head in amazement. "And you have the nerve to criticize _me_. Of all the fucking-..." He rested his head back against the tree, staring up through the branches. He snorted and shook his head again. "Everyone has the right to be stupid, but you're really abusing the privilege."

"Look whose talking," Daijoudan shot back.

"That's exactly the problem. If I have to be the one to tell you what an idiotic idea it is, then you have to know its fucking stupid as all Hell."

Was that actually an admission wrapped in amongst his insult?

"And it'll be a cold day in it before I ever take the advice of someone who keeps digging down after he's hit rock bottom."

Faulklin laughed sardonically. "Well the one perk to digging down that deep is I never have to worry about you being beneath my contempt."

"At your stature, nothing could be beneath you anyway."

Faulklin turned a glare on him. "You shouldn't tempt vultures. They have a nasty habit of ripping things apart."

Daijoudan couldn't help but cock a brow. "You?" The fact that Faulklin would call himself as much was no surprise at all. The boy at least didn't have the arrogance to consider himself anything superior to others, he simply hated all of humankind and lumped each and every one together as the same level of scum. He didn't even spare himself from such groupings. "You're not a vulture. You're something a vulture would eat, then shit back out."

"And you're something they wouldn't even try to digest," Faulklin spat, pushing himself to his feet, breathing a little harder as he stood, but he stayed at least somewhat steady. "Because they'd have to throw you back up."

"Just where the Hell do you think you're going?" Daijoudan demanded, sitting up and narrowing his eyes. "Sit your ass back down."

"No," Faulklin returned, walking to Rebel and climbing onto his saddle where Khu was perched in wait, the crow crackling at him and shuffling on his perch, then deciding Faulklin's shoulder was the better one and climbing up his arm with the aid of its beak. "I need to get to the next Colossus."

"In your condition?"

Faulklin rolled his eye. "Do I look dead to you?"

Actually, now that he really looked, Faulklin _did_ look better. His skin had become less pale, his movements less weak, and he was breathing easier, no longer coughing blood with every slightly-too-hard breath.

But the fact of the matter was that he _shouldn't_.

He shouldn't look as recovered as he did, and that once more fueled his suspicions that something was _wrong_.

"Even if you think you feel fine, you should rest," Daijoudan told him sternly, standing.

"I already took rest." He glanced up the legs of the bridge, as if expecting Emon and his elites to come riding in that very moment. "And we're running out of time."

"It won't matter if you die in the attempt before you can finish what you started," Daijoudan pointed out, not for the first time. "You may think you can just keep charging ahead and pressing your luck, but reality doesn't work that way. It will catch up to you no matter how much you try to convince yourself that it won't."

"And I already told you it doesn't matter," Faulklin snarled, his blue eye slitting. "I already know my chances of success without you trying to _educate_ me about it all the damn time." He turned Rebel away, about to kick the horse into running.

"Do you want to leave Mamoru entirely alone?" Daijoudan's words made him freeze before he could follow through. "Because if you fail and die, he'll have lost both of the only people he calls family. Is that really your intent?"

He saw Faulklin's shoulders slowly slump, his head bowing slightly. "Don't talk as if you know a damn thing about what I'm doing."

"Don't insult me by acting like I'm too dim to realize," Daijoudan snapped in return. "I know that you're doing this for his sake, not yours or hers. Even Komeko knew that when it came down to it, the only person you really gave a damn about was _him_." Faulklin still didn't move, not to look back at him or respond, but not to run on ahead either.

With this, he might as well have the boy chained, and he wasn't going to relent until he'd managed to talk some proper sense into the reckless little shit.

"If you die before you finish with all sixteen Colossi, Komeko won't come back to life, and it'll be as if you've done absolutely nothing. Even worse than nothing, you'll force him to go through a second loss he didn't have to go through, because you never stop to fucking think about what that'll mean for once in your pathetic life. You really expect me to believe you'd willingly hurt him like that? Even _you_ aren't that fucking selfish."

Faulklin was silent for several long beats, before finally letting out a shuddering breath. "And what exactly do you expect that I'm supposed to do, then? Just forget about all of this and go back, with nothing to show for it?"

"No," Daijoudan snapped impatiently, taking in a deep breath and letting it out, trying to steady his nerves. Even when he wasn't trying, Faulklin knew just how to make him bristle in the worst of ways. "I didn't say give up. I said take some fucking time out of the day to take care of yourself properly. Your chances are slim but they aren't non-existent."

At least Faulklin was actually - _truly_ - listening to him for once, his head angled back just faintly to hear his words more clearly.

"But they become even less when you don't give your body the proper attention that it needs. That means resting... tending to wounds... eating and drinking. All of it between these fights. Emon might reach this place long before any person, no matter how competent or tireless, could ever realistically take down all of the Colossi, but you certainly as Hell aren't doing yourself any favors by ignoring your own basic human needs. Give yourself a break, for fuck's sake, or the only thing you'll be accomplishing is a pointless, premature death!"

Faulklin only continued to stare down at Rebel's neck and towards the ground, his shoulders sagging and head bowed, looking every bit the part of the scolded child. He was silent and unmoving, before he finally blew out a long-suffering sigh, what tension remained in his muscles leaving it and the adolescent tracing a hand to his side, massaging it idly. Even if he was recovering far too quickly than was natural or healthy, the eldest between the two didn't doubt he still had to be in a lot of pain from the injuries plaguing his body.

"Alright..." the shorter male finally relented, his voice laced in reluctance, but also a hint of agreement. There wasn't even a hint of bite or sarcasm, so much so that Daijoudan almost thought the sky itself would start falling. "Alright. You're right. So, what now? I already slept, drank, ate..." he glanced back at Daijoudan and once again he was surprised by the boy's willingness to even _attempt_ accepting, much less seeking out, his council.

"We return to the Shrine," he ordered crisply, climbing onto Ayametsuki's back and nudging her forward until their horses stood side-to-side. "-and go after the next Colossus."

"But I thought you said-"

"I said take care of yourself between fights," Daijoudan cut him off impatiently. "We've done that. On the way, we'll stop when we find food and water. And after the next battle, we'll rest and eat again and keep our strength up."

Faulklin nodded mutely and Daijoudan nudged his horse ahead, Rebel and Faulklin soon following just behind them in shocking obedience.


	12. Shadows on the Wall

**What I Wouldn't Sacrifice  
>A Shadow of the Colossus Fanfiction<strong>

* * *

><p>Heading back to the Shrine, the two only paused briefly in their path. Once was near another one of those smaller stone shrines scattered across the territory of the forbidden lands, almost like smaller models of the large Shrine in the center of the region where Dormin and the sixteen statues resided. There, they caught a lizard that crawled up the wall. They had seen a lot of lizards scattered about the land since arriving - too many, were truth be told, as they were one of the only species to inhabit the area - but this one was unique, its tail white and faintly reflective in the light. They decided they would cook and eat it later, too full on fruit from earlier already.<p>

And more fruit was what they gathered from a few trees just this side of the cliffs before they returned, where Dormin immediately greeted them with their next cryptically described colossal enemy.

**_"Thy next foe is... a tail trapped within a pail deep within the forest... A shadow that crawls on the walls."_**

Having their next task ahead of them, they rode out, and the light of the sword pointed southeast, to the side of Valus' territory and through a canyon behind that rose even higher than the winding path between the 3rd and 7th Colossus' territories. They only briefly stopped at another tree just before the slain Minotaur's territory before continuing on. They were full now, but that would soon change after they fought the Colossus.

Dust choked the air as they entered and only once did the sunlight manage to reach the floor of the canyon over its towering walls. The way forked to each side, but they headed left, towards where they could see grass and sunlight.

It was the beckoning maw of a cave ahead that they entered, slowing their horses once inside as a gaping pit opened in front of them where a waterfall emptied into the abyss deep below, and a thick mist ensured that the bottom was lost to sight.

To their right, a narrow trail of rock led further in, barely clinging to the wall with enough space for a horse to squeeze through, then extended through the pit with a drop on either side. A Man-carved stone pillar stood at the center point of the natural bridge, bidding them welcome to ensure that this was indeed a place where a Colossus resided, and they followed it, forced to go single-file slowly on their horses since it was too narrow to enter any other way without falling into the dark below.

Beyond that, a forested, open-ceiling grotto awaited and a natural reservoir beyond that, the vague shape of dark-colored fish flitting through the surface further out. Across the water stood a small temple overtaken by plant life, sitting on a tiny island of rock and grass, and most of its features worn away by time and weather.

They rode around the edge of the pool, across a small rise that provided a bridge just above the surface of the pond, and splashed through shallow water where it dipped gently, until reaching the entrance, where the hopped down and entered on foot, senses alert. A hole in the side of the entrance hall provided them a means to see clearly at first, then the path darkened as stairs led them deeper underground.

They came to a chamber that would have been perfectly symmetrical if not or bits of crumbled ceiling stones scattered about, some vastly larger than others, but it allowed for a great gap in the ceiling which poured light in at an angle from above. In the center at the far end was an open doorway atop a carved wall, and two risen paths on either side of it that ended just before two pillars with small ledges. Oddest of all were the fire pits on the top of those pillars, which still burned with flame that should have long ago died out.

The thought made Faulklin's hair prickle. Had someone else been through here? It had taken them a long time to travel back from the last Colossus. Perhaps Emon and his men had already arrived, awaiting them. He saw no human figures here, but that wasn't to say they wouldn't be just beyond.

At first, there was no Colossus, and the space appeared too small for one anyway, so he did not think that one of those beasts would have been responsible, yet he couldn't help recall Dormin's words about _a shadow on the wall_, and his eye wandered them warily just in case.

"Oi."

"Hm?"

"There's something I've been thinking about ever since we first started dealing with the Colossi."

Faulklin paused to look back at him. "And what would that be?"

"Don't you find it odd?" Daijoudan prompted seriously. "This land? The Colossus themselves? The weak points they have on their bodies?"

Faulklin glanced aside, looking thoughtful, then shrugged unconcern. "I guess."

"And then there's you," Daijoudan continued, staring at the shorter male appraisingly and making him shift uneasily beneath the harsh scrutiny in the older man's eyes. "You shouldn't even be able to move without barfing up half of your insides."

"What are you getting at?" Faulklin demanded, though his tone was subdued.

He was reluctant to admit it even secretly, but Daijoudan had been a help to him. He wasn't entirely sure he would have made it this far without the help. Likely he would have died during the second fight when he almost fell off the Bull's back... no, even before that, when Valus had raised its spiked club to crush him.

He would have been dead by the first fight, yet here he still was, marching on to the eighth instead and feeling not half bad all things considered. He still hurt, most definitely, his wounds not entirely gone, but he was a lot better off than he rightly should have been.

"I mean there are things in this place that are not right, besides just the blatantly obvious. What sort of creatures have glowing marks like the ones the Colossi have? It isn't natural."

"Yeah, okay, but what is your _point_, exactly?" Faulklin huffed impatiently, placing his hands on his hips.

"My point is, stop to think for a fucking second about what the significance of all these things are. We're in a place where the sun never moves and the voice of some... _thing_ is asking us to perform a task for it, but the question is, what does it gain from us slaying these sixteen giant monsters?"

"You think it has some ulterior motive?" Faulklin cocked a brow. Daijoudan cocked his higher.

"You _don't_?"

"I never really thought much on it," Faulklin admitted, before repeating, "but it doesn't matter."

Daijoudan sighed, partially switching topics. "Okay, you said the Colossus have names. How do you know that?"

"I just do," Faulklin shrugged.

Daijoudan frowned unhappily, but he didn't argue about it. He didn't think Faulklin was lying, just that the ignoramus wasn't bothering to use his head properly. Constant insults aside, Faulklin was a far cry from stupid, but his intelligence was glaringly selective. He only used his smarts when it suited him and there was a clear reward at the end of his efforts, or at least when he convinced himself that there was, and only then did he relentlessly pursue it. Everything else, he willfully ignored, and it often made him the worst kind of reckless.

Unfortunately for nearly everyone who became involved with him, the boy had a tendency to set his sights on things that were troublesome, in only the most generous use of the word.

"The first one was named...?"

"Valus," Faulklin said without hesitation.

"And the second one?"

"Quadratus." That was one of the names Daijoudan hadn't heard yet. Faulklin continued without needing to be asked. "Then the third was Gaius. Then Phaedra. Then Avion. Barba. Last was Hydrus."

"What about the next one we're about to face?"

Faulklin paused, his brows furrowing in concentration, but he shook his head. "I don't know. Nothing comes to mind." That gave Daijoudan a moment of pause.

"Okay, so you only know the names of the ones you killed?"

"Yes..." Faulklin said slowly and tilted his head in question as Daijoudan gazed off to the side and down in consideration.

Daijoudan remembered those black tendrils that had left the bodies of the Colossus after each death, and he was sure they were related. Had those been the souls of the Colossus themselves? Or something else? He knew that the Colossi were not wholly organic, at least _partially_ crafted by the hands of Men, so what use was a soul? Why and how had it been placed there? Were the Colossus beings in their own right? Had they chosen to be placed there, or had they been forcibly sealed away against their will, cursed to remain prisoners in a vessel that was not their own body and too grotesque to ever be recognized as something once human? Had they been innocents, or condemned criminals?

In slaying the Colossus... were they freeing innocent spirits wrongfully trapped, or releasing something far more sinister?

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he could only assume the latter over the former. His gut told him that that was edging dangerously close to the truth, but his better sense knew that Faulklin wouldn't care enough to cease his endeavors, even if he could wrap his mind around the same logic.

He also wasn't sure that it wasn't too late to turn back without repercussion. They had already slain almost half of the beasts, of which each of their essences had taken residence in Faulklin, and their effects on his body were already apparent. There was no way for him to be sure how much damage had been done where he couldn't see, and if Faulklin had any idea, he wasn't sharing.

"Are you done?" Faulklin asked, turning further into the chamber and staring to scale up one of the lit pillar, so they could traverse further into the ruin. "In case you've forgotten, we're on a time limit."

Daijoudan clenched his jaw, but said nothing, only accompanying the other male further in.

Their path took them down one staggered wall and up another, before heading down more stairs and finally exiting a doorway into a donut-shaped chamber with barred windows separating them from the center opening. A flight of stairs leading down stood to their right as soon as they exited.

A loud hiss made them both tense and crouch in the shadows, then a roar that echoed long and fearsome all around them, bouncing off every crevice. They slunk forward when they didn't immediately see the creature, towards the barred windows to figure out what they were dealing with.

The structure they were on was the uppermost floor of what appeared to be a perfectly cylindrical coliseum, save for how it tapered at the very bottom, a full six stories high. Golden beams of light radiated down into the center directly like a spotlight, where the top opened up fully and only a few crumbling horns of stone half-caged the top. In the center ring way down at the bottom, a black-and-gold shape shook itself, but its eyes were turned forward instead of up so it didn't notice them at all just yet.

It was smaller than any Colossus before it, but it was also a fully armored beast with side-swiping legs like a lizard and a waving fan-like tail, and from raised plate-like scales on its back crackled an angry golden light like what the spines of their last foe had emitted. Faulklin hissed an angry curse under his breath at the sight of those dancing lights.

The beast turned its head up and they ducked back, wondering if it had heard, but it only lazily walked about its pen, leaving black spots in the wake of its steps, as if its feet charred the ground. If this was anything like the last Colossus with a body charged to bursting with electricity, neither had any doubt that it really had burned the ground where it walked.

All four of its forelegs glowed suspiciously with a white-green glow, just like the underside of Quadratus' hooves had. Those were definite suspect points to attack.

As he continued to watch, he realized that this was the first Colossus they had dealt with so far that had no fur to it whatsoever, nor any place he could see that might have a weak-spot.

"How are we supposed to fight this thing?" he whispered, more to himself than actually expecting Daijoudan would have an answer, and he didn't get one. He was really starting to lament Dormin's words before each fight, finding them to be damn useless in giving him any idea. Most of them he had figured out relatively easily after the first and second fights had played out, but none of them were quite like this one.

He sighed. The only thing to do for now was to wing it and figure things out as he went. First they had to grab its attention, Faulklin lacing his bow and notching an arrow. He felt Daijoudan's glance, but the man said nothing, and he let the projectile fly almost straight down, harmlessly clattering off of its stone body. The Colossus shook itself like a dog ridding itself of water before it turned its head upward, eyes red with rage.

Lightning crackled in its stone jaws and both of them swore, ducking back as it fired a bolt of energy that exploded on the stone ceiling just above them, the pure power within the blast as it passed several feet away from them making their hair stand with static.

What neither of them expected was that a noxious, orangey gas hissed outward from the impact spot where the energy bolt had blackened the stone, quickly surrounding them in crackling vapors that made Faulklin's muscles go rigid and his nerves fire ballistically, his vision spinning as he staggered away from the plume.

Every inhalation as he blindly stumbled his way away from it made his throat and lungs feel like acid had just been poured down it, eroding the lining of his throat raw. He collapsed and rolled away from the cloud as he coughed and covered his mouth with his hands in a vain attempt to protect his airways, tasting blood and the flesh of his own esophagus feeling like coarse sandpaper against itself. His chest ached with rapid palpitations that were quickly rising a primal sense of panic, and he couldn't even force himself to move, partially curling over into himself and willing it away.

The vapors cleared, but he still couldn't even twitch, his rigid limbs freezing up and his skin itching with a dull fire. He hissed as a hand grabbed him by the arm, the touch stinging tender flesh, pulling him to his feet, and dragged more than led him down the first flight of stairs into a cubby where they couldn't be seen.

"S-stay..." Faulklin began to rasp, having to pause as the effort alone made him cough scarlet once more. "...stay away from the blast vapors..."

Daijoudan looked him up and down critically, before he had to look to the side to cough into the back of his hand, wiping away the faintest stain of red.

"I know. I got a good whiff of it too." He glanced Faulklin up and down again. "It didn't affect me nearly as bad as it did you though." Faulklin glanced up at him in confusion, his single eye glossed with disorientation and involuntary fear that he was clearly fighting to suppress, his heart still struggling to correct its rhythm. "Your body must be hypersensitive to the electricity because of the last fight when you took that underwater shock. You have to avoid those blasts and their charged vapors at all costs."

Faulklin wasn't entirely certain if that had anything to do with it, not really knowing much of anything about how electricity worked, but he nodded his agreement, having no intention of getting caught up in them again.

They both tensed as they felt the rattling of the Colossus as if it were _right there_, Daijoudan peering up over the ledge of the stairs as he saw its underbelly claw over one of the windows to even higher up, quietly swearing.

"That thing can fucking climb vertical."

"What?" Faulklin gaped. He shook his head. He should have known. Dormin's words had warned them of such. "Holy Hell."

"Better figure something out quick."

"I'm thinking," Faulklin hissed near-silently, squinting his eyes shut as he tried to focus around the way his head swam. "It's legs," he said after the long stretch of nearly a minute. "Its legs glow. Maybe if we can hit them, it'll fall." He didn't know what they were to do after that, but he knew the Colossi could be stunned, after his fight with Barba had ensued and they'd given it a nice concussion against the wall. Daijoudan nodded his agreement and drew his white blade, glancing at Faulklin and waiting for the boy to recover enough to fight.

They could hear the Salamander's legs stomping against the walls as it searched for its prey, more bolts fired from its maw, but for the moment, they were safely out of its sights.

Faulklin stood and nodded to show he was ready. Daijoudan returned it, and they carefully made their way out of hiding.

When they emerged, it was _right_ in front of them, perched at the top of the coliseum even higher than the floors went and facing upside-down, its head arched and firing through some of the barred windows, attempting to flush them out and not even noticing them only a handful of meters away. Faulklin raised his lips to whistle and drew its attention, the beast climbing down and coming towards them. They ducked behind one of the thick pillared walls, which thankfully blocked them from view, and the Colossus passed them by to fire at the place they had been standing before, even though they were nowhere within sight. Glancing out the window behind it where its tail covered, Faulklin could see dark grey fur on its underbelly where it wasn't armored, and a faint blue glow that beckoned for its blade.

_There!_ he silently mouthed, and Daijoudan nodded to show he had seen as well.

He reached his arm through the window, feeling the hot energy radiating waves off its body, and stabbed into the Colossus' rear leg, causing the beast to hiss. As he twisted it hard, the light in its leg went out and the limb fell limp, but it clung on with the other three legs. Its charged attacks, however, ceased, and the mist it fired evaporated. Before he could figure out how to attack the rest of it or reach the glyph, the light in its leg rekindled, and it found its grip again, all within the span of ten or so seconds.

"Shit, it regenerates really quickly." They would have to attack its legs quickly enough that it couldn't recover to knock it down.

"We'll each attack its legs. You take the back ones, I'll take the front," Daijoudan coordinated. Faulklin had no qualms with that, and nodded, the Colossus swiveling to face them now and attack again.

They both ran around the ring, dodging blasts and waiting for two of its legs to be within range of the windows, and in a coordinated attack, stabbed two of its legs. With only two more to hang on, it detached from the wall, and fell the full six stories.

"Move your ass!" Daijoudan barked as the creature tumbled and crashed to the floor below. Faulklin nodded his head and sprinted down the stairs as fast as he could, out of breath by the time he reached the bottom, but he found the Colossos splayed their on its back and lying still.

He ran up the flat of its tail where a glyph glowed to life between its two rear legs, heat from its radiating energy filling his body from even the most subtle contact, and stabbed down at its weak-point, feeling the entire beast twitch and writhe with a hiss of pain. By the first stab, the reptilian Colossus was already flailing and squirming, rolling toward its stomach with the second stab.

Faulklin didn't manage to dislodge his blade and leap off quite in the nick of time, and its full bulk smashed into him, its stone tail hitting him in the side and throwing him several feet into the diagonal slope of the coliseum's bottom ring. He struggled to draw in a breath after the wind was knocked out of him and sputtered when he finally managed to snatch a gasp of air, struggling to get to his feet.

The Colossus snarled furiously at him and fixated small, glaring eyes on him as he staggered for the closest of four doorways into the ring, limping quickly up the steps as another charged blast built up in its maw and fired. He dashed as fast as he could up the steps before the vapors could reach him, and kept going up the steps, having to pause halfway up just to breathe and rest his legs, which protested sorely.

He heard the Colossus climb up the walls again, but ignored it as he hid, hearing it fire blindly into windows further away and up. Once he was ready to keep climbing, he and Daijoudan found each other on the second story down from the top, the man catching him by the arm and stopping him.

"Switch."

"What?" Daijoudan gave him an impatient look as Faulklin's brows furrowed in confusion.

"Give me your damn sword and bow, and switch with me. I'll run to the bottom. Lure it to the top, and I'll see if I can't shoot the bastard down."

"On my own?" Faulklin's eye widened as if the other male was insane, and Daijoudan rolled his eyes.

"Yes, on your own," he told him, unsheathing his silver sword and trading off, in case he would still need a weapon. "When it falls, I'll be ready, and I'll get in as many hits as I can. If it still isn't dead, we switch again. If we have to keep running up and down, it will take forever. If one of us is already waiting at the bottom, we'll get a longer window to finish it off."

Faulklin huffed, but he nodded, seeing the logic.

"Alright."

He handed off his bow and they both silently parted, Faulklin going up to the top level and Daijoudan sprinting down. Faulklin went to one of the windows and crouched, poking out over the edge and whistling. He wasn't as good at it as Daijoudan, but he managed to catch the Colossus attention and immediately sprinted away from one of its blasts to the other side of the coliseum.

He saw it climbing up to where he had been, up and over, and then turned upside-down again to arch its head into the window, firing. Faulklin whistled again shrilly and drew its gaze, running away from another charge, and whistled as it began to claw sideways along the wall and over each window in pursuit.

An arrow lodged in one of its legs and it snarled, slumping, but not falling, as the light in one leg went dim. Then another arrow lodged in a second leg, and it fell sideways, spiraling through the air and crashing onto its back, unmoving.

Faulklin went to the window and peered out, watching Daijoudan sprint across the arena and onto its belly, drawing the sword up and jabbing it down. The Colossus twitched but didn't begin to flail yet, and he got three more good stabs in that made the first glyph disappear. The man ran further up to its chest where the second glyph sprung to life, and stabbed down, the Colossus beginning to recover now. He got in another good stab before it was moving too much for him to keep an effective grip, threatening to roll over on top of the man.

He stood and sprung off its side, hit the ground, and ran up the steps to disappear before the beast even had the time to fully find its feet and spot him, and Faulklin ran to the stairwell that the man was ascending to meet him halfway, where they traded off swords and Faulklin's bow.

He was more glad than he could express to have the chance at taking a quick breather as he reached the bottom, the Colossus drawn and distracted by Daijoudan's whistles.

When he was ready, Faulklin swung out of hiding with his bow already drawn, looking about for the Colossus, and aimed. The beast noticed him, beginning to charge an attack, seeming to know that he was the one tasked with bringing it down, but it misfired somewhere much higher above as Daijoudan angled out of a window and stabbed one leg, while Faulklin fired into another. In that moment, he couldn't miss how the wall was spotted in black like the pelt of a leopard, each one a footprint left by the Colossus' feet.

The Colossus screeched its alarm and fell, rattling the entire arena as it crashed to earth and crumbled some of the stonework in its fall, and Faulklin wisely stood back away from it until it had settled, the shockwave of it hitting the ground still being enough to rattle his bones and wounds, gritting his teeth through the pain.

He ran for the felled monster now and climbed up to its chest, kneeling into its fur and bringing the blade down into the quickly sealing wound that Daijoudan had left in his earlier assault, renewing the spray of black blood that vaporized like mist in the air above him. Three stabs was all that it took to finally finish it off, and the monster let out a harrowing death throw as its entire body arched upward into a ball, almost crushed Faulklin in the fold of its belly, before it splayed out again on its back, dead.

Faulklin panted both bone-weary exhaustion and exhilaration all at once, wedging his sword from its chest cavity and sheathing it at his side, sinking down to lay against it. He already knew at this point that the snake-like shadows that came out of it would seek him out and pitch him into temporary oblivion within the next few seconds, so there was no point in standing when he would just hit the ground unconscious anyway. It wasn't as if he'd have enough time to even reach the first stairs, much less higher, and he was too drained to bother trying.

Just as he expected, the point of the tendrils pierced into him from all sides, and his vision went darker than the charcoal-colored armor hide of the slain Colossus he laid on.


End file.
